Werner Ulrich's Home Page
Bern, Switzerland,
Welcome to
Werner Ulrich's Home Page
and to the Web site of the
Lugano Summer School
of Systems
Design
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In this site, I offer materials related to my current academic work, which centers on the philosophy and methodology of reflective professional practice and research. Among the conceptual tools of special relevance to this core topic, I count: philosophy of applied science and expertise; practical philosophy and discourse theory (including discourse ethics); the social study of science in the context of civil society (science & society studies); management philosophy; and, as an important methodological basis, my own work on critical systems thinking (critical systems heuristics) and critical pragmatism.
Some of my other academic and professional interests, among them the theory and practice of social planning; operational research and management science; evaluation research; public policy analysis; and poverty research, are not central subjects of this site, although they are present in so far as they overlap with the before-mentioned interests. Additional interests such as the theory and practice of deliberative democracy; the promotion of a living civil society; emancipatory civic education (esp. by what I call "critically-heuristic training of citizens); professional and business ethics; and the nature of critical " information" systems design, along with a basic interest in critical philosophy (esp. Kant), philosophical pragmatism (esp. Peirce), and critical social theory (esp. Habermas), are represented at least partly through material offered under various headings.
You will find here a number of essays that reflect my current work on critical systems thinking (CST) and critical systems heuristics (CSH) with its methodological core concept of systematic boundary critique, including my ongoing research programs on "CST for professionals & citizens" and on "critical pragmatism." These essays are partly original publications and partly edited or preprint versions of earlier publications. Please observe the copyright details given with each essay and/or in the copyright note of this site.
For further information and reference, you find in this site my professional bio, with an additional mini-profile in a drawing and four sentences; a complete list of academic publications; and a list of selected readings. I also offer a selection of papers for free download, as well as an opportunity to order hard copies of some of my publications that are difficult to obtain otherwise.
Announcement
Yahoo
Geocities! has decided to terminate all web hosting services on
26 October, 2009. Consequently, the web address of this
site will have to change. As much as I believe that web addresses
(URLs) should be stable, in this case I have no choice. There
should be no interruption of service though, thanks to automatic
redirection to the new URL. The good news is that my site will then
finally have its own domain name (to be defined).
[21
Sep 2009]
University of Italian Switzerland
An important part of this web site is dedicated to my former academic teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, C.W. Churchman. In this section you will find some tribute papers dedicated to him, as well as some pictures and an extensive bibliography of his writings.
Another major part is the official site of the Lugano Summer School of Systems Design. Although located externally, on the server of the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano, these pages equally stand for one of the core interests that motivate my work and to which this home page is dedicated, I mean the education of future professionals and decision-makers as reflective and responsible practitioners.
Ulrich's Bimonthly, the successor of the earlier Picture of the Month series, offers my visitors a personal reflection centered around or illustrated by a photograph that I find inspiring. These reflections may but need not be related to my professional work; they may also deal with some other issue of current interest or simply with a seasonal picture. Beginning in the 1950s with a simple 6x9 (B2 / 120 film) Agfa box camera, I have enjoyed being an amateur photographer for some 50 years and I still enjoy it today, with the new possibilities of digital photography. (One of my favorite subsequent cameras, the Voigtlander Vitomatic IIa, is the subject of one of these monthly reflections.)
When you hit the "Ulrich's Bimonthly" button, the page with the latest reflection-cum-picture will open. Previous pages are accessible either through the latest Bimonthly or through the site map, where you will find a complete overview of the series.
The Agfa Box 44
The Vitomatic IIa
Finally, there are some indispensable auxiliary pages: a copyright/copyleft note that you may want to consult before using material available in this site. It comes with an appendix on plagiarism; a contact page with an email link (anti-spam coded); and a fully hyperlinked site map to assist your navigation.
Access
to a local weather report for Bern, Switzerland, can be found
at the bottom of this page. If you are looking for some other site,
here is a direct entry form for a
Google search: 
I hope you will enjoy this web site. Thanks for stopping by, and best wishes.
Werner Ulrich
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Critical Systems Thinking (CST) for Professionals and Citizens |
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Today's weather in Bern, Switzerland
This index page last updated 22 Sep
2009 - First published 10 Nov 2002 - (c) 2002-2009 W. Ulrich
Layout
last modified 20 Mar 2009
