Soft systems methodology to information systems: a Wittgensteinian approach

Abstract. A logical foundation for information system design requires a theory of meaning. Ideational theories attach meaning to the ideas in the private world of a conscious subject. By contrast Wittgenstein held that language and meaning were primarily public and that a private, purely subjective, language was impossible. The iterative debate among stake-holders that takes place in the practice of soft systems methodology (SSM) can be understood as a Wittgensteinian language game in which meaning is created not just discovered. The conceptual models used in SSM can be developed into logico-linguistic models which express stipulative definitions. These definitions can be taken as a logical basis for information system design.