As long ago as 1992, I pointed to a battle for the ‘soul of the VSM’ between advocates of positivist, structuralist, and interpretive theoretical positions. It is clear that, as a model, the VSM can be put to different uses according to the philosophical inclinations of the user.
This can be demonstrated if we examine the different methodologies that have been proposed for using the model in practice. It is nevertheless still worth asking questions about which philosophical and theoretical position the VSM is best equipped to serve, which makes the most coherent sense of it, and about Stafford Beer’s own views on the matter. The argument is developed on the basis of three traditions in cybernetics – first order, second-order, and ‘British’.
