High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ludwig Bertalanffy describes two types of systems: open systems and closed systems. The open systems are systems that allow interactions between its internal elements and the environment. An open system is defined as a “system in exchange of matter with its environment, presenting import and export, building-up and breaking-down of its material components.” For example, a living organism could be considered an open system. Closed systems, on the other hand, are held to be isolated from their environment. Equilibrium thermodynamics, for example, is a field of study that applies to closed systems. The idea of open systems was further developed in systems theory. In this case, open systems in systems theory encourage a non-representational and non-referential post-humanist approach that actualizes the complexity of reality in a non-deterministic framework.