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Soft systems methodology is very important in systems research. It closely joints with and interacts with philosophy of science. The paper first analyses the philosophical basis of soft systems methodology (SSM) and the change of the philosophical paradigms underpinning the change from classical systems engineering to SSM. It then explores how SSM, as applied hermeneutics and constructivism, partially influences the development of philosophy of natural science and philosophy of social science. It finally arrives at the conclusion that the relationship between hard systems methodology (HSM) and SSM is inter-exclusive and inter-complementary in different aspects at the same abstract level rather than the relationship between the universal and the particular at different language levels. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The British emergentists have their pros and cons in the discussion of emergence. They succeeded in expressing the basic characteristics of emergence, but failed to explain how and why a property became emergence. So, the main subject of studying emergence is to explore the dynamics at present. This article redescribes the concept of emergence and proposes the concept of dynamics of emergence to explain how emergence comes into being. The dynamics of emergence can be divided into two parts: micro-dynamics and macro-dynamics. The former deals with the emergence coming from the interaction of pre-existing components of a system through their local interaction, bifurcation and iterative effect going to global pattern, while the latter discusses what the macro conditions and environments of emergence are, how systems adapt to the environment and how the environment selects systems at the edge of chaos. This article also points out that the dynamics of emergence has important implication in the research of organizations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.