Our Own Metaphor

by Smithsonian Institution

Based on a conference held at Burg Wartenstein, Austria in 1968, organized by anthropologist Gregory Bateson and observed and interpreted by Mary Catherine Bateson. This classic on the mismatch between natural processes and human mental capacities and about the needed process of epistemological change was first published in 1972 (Knopf) and is reissued with a wonderful new foreword and afterword by the author. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Bateson was the scribe for an interdiciplinary conference on systems theory and human adaptation, organized by her father, Gregory, in the early 70's. Interesting to see how the work of this small group has presaged the recent "breakthroughs" in complexity theory, ecological science, and systems thinking.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follow along with a 1968 interdisciplinary conference on society's attempted control of ecological processes, human-and-more meta-cognitive capacities, cargo cults and state machines and ... it's quite lovely, and unresolved, and a bit cringe in details. Should society be much more or much less oriented towards change? Why is it so hard for individuals to change habits of thought? How much can systems models, cybernetic language, incorporate change? The answers aren't so much as riding along the swells of debate.