What are open system and closed system
Answers
in social sciences, schematically, if there is an interaction or feedback loop between ideal and material or subjective and objective then the system is an open system, otherwise it is a closed system. A closed system offers a deterministic relationship. René Descartes’ view of a Cartesian subject as a determining agent, detached from nature, is a closed system. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s view of the world that the idea determines the being is another example of a closed system. Raymond Williams’ open-ended approach and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice suggest non-deterministic relationships and are thus open systems. Schematically, closed systems are the sphere of being, identity, theory, molar, information, normal, and past. Open systems offer becoming, difference, practice, molecular, noise, pathological, and present. In short, systems theory in social sciences is basically closing the gap between phenomenology and structuralism and instead searching for embedded hermeneutics in which the subject is not cut off from a society but weaved in a social context. Once the Cartesian subject, who imposed mental concepts on reality, is flattened out, then the task is how to actualize materiality.
Systems can be either open or closed. A closed system is one where a quantity or series of quantities cannot enter or leave the system. For example, a system might be closed to energy, meaning energy might not be able to enter or leave the system. A vacuum thermos flask does a really good job of stopping energy from leaving the system to keep your drink warm. So it might make sense to treat it as a closed system - but no system in the real world is ever perfectly closed, so it will only be an approximation.
The opposite of a closed system is an open system. An open system is one where a quantity or series of quantities can enter or leave the system to a significant degree. If you pour your hot drink into a mug instead of a vacuum thermos flask, the heat will escape relatively quickly into its surroundings. So a mug is most certainly an open system! Open systems are a lot more complicated to understand than closed systems, and so scientists prefer to work with closed systems when possible. It makes things much simpler to explain and can be a good starting point before trying to explain open systems, too.