Gregory Bateson: Essays for an Ecology of Ideas

by Gregory Bateson, Frederick Steier (Editor), Jane Jorgenson (Editor)

Gregory Bateson's work continues to touch others in fields as diverse as communication, ecology, anthropology, philosophy, family therapy, education, and mental/spiritual health. The authors in this special issue of Cybernetics & Human Knowing (C&HK) celebrate the Bateson Centennial.

Genres: Philosophy, Anthropology, Communication, Psychology, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe. In the 1940s he helped extend systems theory/cybernetics to the social/behavioral sciences, and spent the last decade of his life developing a "meta-science" of epistemology to bring together the various early forms of systems theory developing in various fields of science. Some of his most noted writings are to be found in his books, Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979). Angels Fear (published posthumously in 1987) was co-authored by his daughter Mary Catherine Bateson.

Reviews

[TK Keanini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregory Bateson. For a while, this book lived in my laptop bag because every time I would pick it up I would get so much out of it. The patterns that connect, the double bind, type 2 learning, etc. All huge and all will blow your mind.

In here, Louis Kauffman, talks about Virtual Logic and it is a great piece. You would have thought this to be in the Heinz von Foerster issue of the journal but it appears here. I once sat through a seminar with Louis Kauffman and asked a few questions. The guy took in the question like a school boy so exited to find the answer and although he did not know the answer right away, in a few minutes he had the proof on the board. Gregory Bateson taught us all how to be bright eyed school boys.

[Sergej van Middendorp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of thought provoking and inspiring essays by Bateson scholars, amongst whom my dissertation chair Fred Steier.