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# Human-Centric Functional Modeling and the Unification of Systems Thinking Approaches: A Short Communication

## Details

**Authors** Williams AE

**Year** 2021

**Publisher** Journal of Systems Thinking 1(1):1-5

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Systems Science

**Reading level** technical

**Kind of engagement** scholarly

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.54120/jost.v1i1.1369) 
10.54120/jost.v1i1.1369

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Where systems thinking approachesare often different and sometimes irreconcilable because they are based on the reasoning of one individual or another, Human-Centric Functional Modeling aims to become universal through looking inwards to the way all human beings perceive. HCFM provide a methodology that enables first person observations within each of the senses of the body or within the emotions, mind, or consciousness as functional systems to be represented as forming mathematical spaces that in turn enable all possible systems thinking approaches to be represented.This creates the possibility of comparing all systems thinking approaches to determine which is most “fit” in each context in which it is used, and it radically reduces the barriers to reusing the best components of each approach.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

A short communication proposing Human-Centric Functional Modeling as a route to unifying systems thinking approaches by grounding them in how all human beings perceive.

### What they found (results)

Representing first-person observation as mathematical spaces lets all systems thinking approaches be represented, compared for fitness in each context, and mined for their best reusable components.

## Commentary

### In short

Proposes Human-Centric Functional Modeling, which grounds systems thinking in how people perceive, as a common frame for comparing systems thinking approaches.

### Response

A competing proposal for unifying systems thinking, grounding it in first-person perception rather than in structural patterns. Engagement of the strongest kind in a young field: another author taking the unification question seriously enough to offer a different answer to it.

**Patterns it shows** P

**How to cite this** Williams AE (2021). Human-Centric Functional Modeling and the Unification of Systems Thinking Approaches: A Short Communication. Journal of Systems Thinking 1(1):1-5.