Systemic virtues as a foundation for a general theory of design elegance

Recent discussion and research in systems engineering have highlighted the need for a principled approach to attaining elegance in engineered systems, in order to enhance product value and reduce life cycle risks. In this paper, we analyse the "elegance factors" pertaining to designed systems from the perspective of the philosophy of value (axiology) and characterize the elegance factors as "systemic virtues," analogous to philosophical models of the factors pertaining to the "goodness" of persons and scientific theories. We defend the possibility of the existence and discovery of general systems laws that could ground a general theory of design elegance, and report on our strategy and progress in developing methods for discovering such laws and for developing such a theory.