AbstractThis is the seventh installment of a series of articles which traces the development of the modern inquiring system (IS), a system dedicated to the acquisition, production and dissemination of knowledge. The main idea behind this series is to resurrect classic works which bear relevance to the systems movement, in general, and to the understanding of how the modern inquiring system has evolved in particular.Previous installments of this series, Parts I to VI, have appeared inSystems Researchas follows: Part I and II in Vol.5,(3), 1988; Part III and IV in Vol.5,(4), 1988; Part V in Vol.6,(2); and Part VI in Vol.6,(3). Readers are referred to those publications [14][15][16][13][11][7]respectively. They are also invited to submit appropriate sequels to these articles by sending them to the author‐editor whose address appears above. Contributions are welcom