Abstract for: Towards Reconciling a Unified Structural Hierarchy between System Dynamics and Systems Thinking

We borrow from the hierarchy of matter to propose a unified structural hierarchy for consideration and discussion for System Dynamics and Systems Thinking. The hierarchy attempts to clarify relationships between different structures provide falsifiable criteria for determining inclusion or exclusion from a hierarchical level. It also arranges the orders to combine subordinate structures to create-higher order structures. We seek to provide a more accessible arrangement for educating the student in the field, enabling artificial intelligence sorting and classification of structural types, and improving understanding of what kind of model is being presented in a paper by locating it within a standard set of terms in the hierarchy. Modelers working between the two domains would benefit from a reconciliatory, rigorous, and explicit framework that could be used as a confidence-building test.