Qualitative Systems Thinking

This new course is built on the proposition that learning understanding requires a different learning process from knowledge.

It requires a different theory and a different practice based on perception of qualities rather than the measurement of quantities, the recognition of universal patterns and the development of a self-reflective consciousness.

Last run May 2021

We are in Transition: Join us as We Evolve Together | Dec 1, 2025

Every living system has seasons. Having reached the limits of our available funding, H3Uni is in a season of regeneration — stepping back from formal courses as we rethink how a volunteer-led University towards Third Horizon can grow.

Still, the flame of our community remains bright. This is the moment to join the gatherings, participate in dialogue, and help shape what emerges next. And if you value our open Resource Library and work, your support directly helps keep this commons alive for everyone.

Help Sustain the Commons

An introductory course to the new discipline of qualsystems

By Dr Anthony Hodgson

We are living through an explosion of knowledge. Knowledge used to be concentrated in libraries supported by the technology of printing but now that knowledge is largely contained in digital form in massive capacity servers (computers) all linked together via the internet. Search engines of great sophistication enable ranges of rapid access to stored knowledge but also enabling self-publication such that that millions of sources of knowledge are feeding this behemoth.

However, does all this improve our understanding? Or more cogently, is the development of understanding keeping up with the knowledge explosion? Do we know better how to make sense of it, especially in terms of relevance to our existential concerns in a troubled society on a troubled planet?

This new course is built on the proposition that learning understanding requires a different learning process from knowledge. It requires a different theory and a different practice based on perception of qualities rather than the measurement of quantities, the recognition of universal patterns and the development of a self-reflective consciousness.

Course Structure:

The course is structured around three lines of work.

• Firstly there is the basic idea of qualitative systems based on the sequence of integers and their perceptual meaning.

• Secondly, there is the practice of engaging with qualsystems as a method of increasing intuitive intelligence.

• Thirdly, there is the application of qualsystems to real world problems of understanding and action. The three lines will be woven together over a series of seven two hour online seminars.

The course sessions are each made up from the following components:

• A live participative session by Dr. Anthony Hodgson via Zoom

• Learning materials between sessions

• An asynchronous chat forum (hosted on Slack) for course members to share and discuss

Who is this course for?

This course will be helpful if you:

• Wish to learn a better way of making sense of a confused and turbulent world

• Need to make decisions or policies that need synthesis across a complex of information and issues

• Are engaged in transdisciplinary research but can find no coherent method for inter disciplinary understanding

• Are engaged in design work for complex situations, especially of transformation or regeneration

Module 1 – Numbers, Qualities and Perception

• How understanding differs from knowledge

• Appreciative systems are different

• The importance of perception and interpretation

• The limitations of reductionism

• First order and second order systems – enter consciousness

• The definition of qualsystems as discrete qualities of mutual relevance between self and universe

• Qualsystems as a second-order discipline

• The hypothesis of the qualitative significance of number

• The further definition of qualsystems as implicate number

• Qualsystems as a language of understanding

• Its use as a method of exploration, insight and creativity

Module 2 – The Basic Qualsystems

• Basic symbols and conventions

• The series of n-term systems

• Attributes, term characters, connectivities

• ZERO – undivided totality

• MONAD – universe of discourse

• DYAD – inherent polarity

• TRIAD – relational dynamics

• TETRAD – field of action

Module 3 – The Intermediate Qualsystems

• PENTAD – potential significance

• HEXAD – coalescence of events

• HEPTAD – structure and flow

• OCTAD – completedness and balance

Module 4 – The Complex Qualsystems

• ENNEAD – transformative dynamics

• DECAD – integrative complementarity

• UNDECAD – the dimensional bridge

• DUODECAD – the cosmic ladder of being

Module 5 – The Cosmic Laws of Unfolding

• Implicate and explicate order

• Qualtum potential and realization

• The unfolding of complexity and connectedness

• Attributes in a natural sequence

• Strong and weak coherence

• Examples from nature

• Examples from creative processes

• Examples from everyday life

Module 6 – Unpacking complex systems

• The Octad – the essence of holism

  • Example: Regenerative society

• The Enneagram – overcoming hazard

  • The three octaves of transformation

  • Example – works of art

• The Duodecad – the essential integrality

  • The triad of tetrads

  • The Dramatic Universe

Module 7 – Practice: Tuning in to Qualsystems

• Qualsystems practice increases our understanding

• Different modes of application

  • Increasing appreciation of a field

  • As an aid to the design process

  • Cross-functional understanding in a team

  • Fearlessly tackling complexity and uncertainty

• Practicing a qualsystems exploration together

  • Basic presence

  • Tuning into the Monad

  • Working up the qualsystems

  • Seeing if we can get through the first six to the hexad

• Clarifying some techniques

  • Mental images and visualisation

  • Open questioning

  • Disentangling confusion

  • Knowing where you are in the sequence

• How to take your leaning further as part of your life skills