Gregory Bateson

Ecología, belleza y el camino hacia la gracia de la interrelación

by José Manuel Rodríguez

Rodríguez, J.M. 2011. Ecología, belleza y el camino hacia la gracia de la interrelación. Prensa Libre, jueves 17 de febrero, p. 16 Opinión.

Towards Ecopedagogy: Weaving a Broad-based Pedagogy of Liberation for Animals, Nature and the Oppressed Peoples of the Earth

by Richard Kahn

From: A. Darder, R. Torres, M. Baltodano (eds), The Critical Pedagogy Reader (2nd. ed.), 2008

H. Keeney & B. Keeney (2012). What is systemic about systemic therapy? Therapy models muddle systemic practice. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 31(1), 22-37.

by Hillary Stephenson Keeney

History and Foundations of Systems Thinking

by Emanuele Serrelli

From 2009 to 2011 Emanuele Serrelli was researcher in a project of Centro Panta Rei - counselling and training for human systems, Milano, Italy. Emanuele worked in collaboration with the Director Dr. Antonio Caruso and the staff with the aim of producing a historical, epistemological and technical account of the systemic socio-constructionist approach to human systems. The account - written down in a document mainly by Emanuele - was also intended as a scientific report to be submitted to the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research in order to obtain permission to open a psychotherapy school at Centro Panta Rei. The school was approved in August 2011, and opened in December 2011.

Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento... more Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento sistemico e socio-costruzionista. Unpublished manuscript.
The first part features a reconstruction of the teoretical and cultural tradition beginning with the systemic model introduced in 1950s in the context of family therapy (1.1.1). Such historical-epistemological treatment is not precisely the cronological course of maturization of the systemic model as a whole: it rather describes the progessive declination of the model towards a particular "branching" characterized mainly by integration with socio-constructionism (1.2). Branching means embracing and developing some elements of the tradition.

The systemic model is relational, supraindividual (1.1.1). In that it resembles other models originated from family therapy and today developed in new forms and configurations, no longer in opposition to psychoanalysis. Classical concepts of the systemic model come from the analogy between human-social and natural-artificial systems (1.1.2), from thinking groups as cybernetic systems governed by rules, whose cohesive and dynamic substrate is communication. Non wonder that many of the conceptual and operational contributions by the systemic model to psychotherapy focus on the analysis and employment of communication (1.1.3) as the substrate of relationships among individuals within systems. The approach was initially much influenced by American behaviorism, and then became - with theoretical advancements mostly due to the "Milan approach" - more and more watchful to relating behavior with the subjective, semantic, interpretive, intentional dimensions of relation and dynamical co-construction of contexts (1.1.3). The whole landscape of approaches stemming from the systemic model cannot pass over the encounter in 1980s with Second-Order Cybernetics, also defined "theory of the observer", whose fundamental premises point out that every observer is part of the observed system, the latter being modified by the observation process (1.1.4).
The constructivist emphasis resulting from such encounter has the merit of stressing the therapist's epistemological responsibility, with related methodological and auto-reflexive suggestions, but - we argue - does not necessarily bring to an individualist and cognitivist perspective (radical constructivism): rather, several theoretical-epistemological elaborations of the systemic model bring to a dynamical integration between the two different perspectives, the constructivist and the cybernetic. Such elaborations, together with other epistemological and methodological choices (section 2), are the base for the further integration with social constructionism (1.2), implying to outdistance the subjectivistic extremizations of, on the one hand, constructivism (in its radical individual-centered, e.g. Von Glasersfeld, cf. 1.1.4), and, on the other hand, socio-constructionism (narrativism and “not knowing approach to therapy”, e.g. White & Epston). Socio-costructionism, emphasizes "reality effects" of language and criticizes psychotherapic knowledge as potentially functional to the maintainance of social status quo. That is, radicalizes some instances which were already present in the systemic model after Second-Order Cybernetics. First and Second Cybernetics - the most traditional model - are recontextualized as the position of a specific observer. In this way, they act as fundamental map and compass for the therapist who interacts in situations that are open to search and change (1.2).

The second part (section 2) illustrates the main elements of a clinical method, consisting in building a care setting, i.e. a context "inhabited" by resources that are useful for the client or patient (1.2). The methodology is systemic in that it locates the "system in therapy", and it sees and involves the "system of resources". It comes also from constructionist reflections on the importance of the linguistic and pragmatic choices we operate in defining the problem. Fundamental elements of the systemic and socio-constructionist clinical methodology are, thus: negotiation of the definition of the relation, context (2.1.1), and defined time (duration and frequency, 2.1.3) of the therapy; recursive connection between semantic and behavioral ("action") dimensions, inside and outside the therapy (2.1.2); guidelines for the therapy (2.1.4) that decline operationally the coexistence of strategic and collaborative attitudes in the socio-constructionist systemic model (as exemplified by other methodologies around Europe, 2.2); construction, multiplication, and "management" of a plurality of contexts (2.1.5) in which the system-in-therapy can move with the therapeutic equipe in search for the maximum healing effect. As for scientific evidence of validity and effectiveness of the systemic socio-constructionist model, it must be noticed that some clinicians reject the empiricist epistemology of randomized clinical trials as a legitimate method to assess therapies. Nonetheless, the last part of the document (section 3) accounts for an attention to research and evaluation (through some ongoing researches), and many references are cited about systemic and socio-constructionist models.

Abstract: Images of whitness throughout indo-european myth and lore and their interpretation in user generated popular culture

by Felix Abrudan

Abstract of working paper. Personal project.

Às vezes, tosco é melhor — ou quantidade não determina padrão

by Daniel Puig

"Sometimes, coarse is better — or quantity does not determine pattern"
Apresentado no Encontro Internacional de Música e Artes Sonoras de 2011 (EIMAS 2011), 13 a 16 de setembro, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Juiz de Fora, MG, Brasil.
Presented at the International Meeting of Music and Sound Arts 2011 (EIMAS 2011), Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Juiz de Fora (MG, Brazil), September 2011.

Resumo:
Este trabalho procura analisar a criação de uma ferramenta para eletrônica em tempo-real, concretizada... more Resumo:
Este trabalho procura analisar a criação de uma ferramenta para eletrônica em tempo-real, concretizada através do software Max/MSP, sob a ótica de pressupostos do pensamento sistêmico em Gregory Bateson. Analiso o patch “dstack~”, de reconhecimento de ataques, a partir do pressuposto de que “quantidade não determina padrão”, exposto em seu livro "Mind And Nature: A Necessary Unity." Explano os detalhes de seu funcionamento, tecendo considerações que revelam como a concepção vinda da visão sistêmica permeia as idéias que estão em sua origem e sua construção. Esse patch faz parte de minha biblioteca "dseptiv~".
Abstract:
This paper aims to analyze the construction of a tool for real-time electronics through some aspects of the systemic view in Gregory Bateson. The analysis of the Max/MSP attack recognition patch “dstack~” is carried out assuming that “quantity does not determine pattern”, as explained by Bateson in his book "Mind And Nature: A Necessary Unity." The text outlines details of it’s operation, with considerations that reveal how the ideas coming from the systemic view are in the core of it’s origin and structure. The patch is part of my library "dseptiv~".

Epistemological Error: A Whole Systems View of Converging Crisis

by Jody Joanna Boehnert

Paper for 'Learning from the Crisis', Philosophy of Management conference at the University of Oxford, July 2010 and to be published in the journal Philosophy of Management in 2012.

Gregory Bateson said that we are ‘governed by epistemologies that we know to be wrong’ back in 1972. In the same book... more Gregory Bateson said that we are ‘governed by epistemologies that we know to be wrong’ back in 1972. In the same book Bateson wrote: 'the organism that destroys its environment destroys itself.’ Almost forty years later global ecological systems are in steep decline and converging crises make a deep evaluation of the underlying premises of our philosophical traditions an urgent imperative. This paper will suggest that the roots of the economic crisis are epistemological and that to correct this error whole systems thinking and ecological literacy will become increasing important in business management as well as in other disciplines. It will also suggest that the economic crisis opened new political space and has provided an opportunity for intervention. If we are brave enough to examine of the roots of our problems there is possibility for renewal.

Paper for Philosophy of Management conference at the University of Oxford in July 2010. More info here: http://bit.ly/a895P2+

Uma improvisação guiada por uma partitura, como uma mente, segundo os seis critérios do processo mental propostos por Gregory Bateson

by Daniel Puig

"An improvisation guided by a score, as a mind, according to the six criteria of mental process, proposed by Gregory Bateson"
Publicado nos Anais do VII Simpósio Internacional de Cognição e Artes Musicais (7SIMCAM), Brasília (Brasil), maio de 2011.
Published in the Proceedings of the VII International Symposium of Cognition and Musical Arts (7SIMCAM), Brasília (Brazil), May 2011.

A partir dos seis critérios do processo mental, propostos por Gregory Bateson, procuro demonstrar que um grupo de... more A partir dos seis critérios do processo mental, propostos por Gregory Bateson, procuro demonstrar que um grupo de músicos improvisando a partir de uma partitura pode ser considerado como uma mente em si mesmo. Contextualizando as contribuições desse autor, parto para uma análise detalhada dos critérios, procurando sumarizar seus pressupostos ao propor que este tipo de estruturação seja possível. Aplico, então, os critérios a uma situação imaginada, considerando: suas partes, a interação entre elas, o ponto por onde flui energia colateral para o sistema, sua cadeia circular de determinação e as transformações que ocorrem em seu interior, para, por fim, revelar uma hierarquia de tipos lógicos imanente a ela.

Chet Bowers (Encylopedia Entry)

by Richard Kahn

Calculated Spontaneity (Avant-Garde's Double Bind)

by Panos Vlagopoulos

Read at the 2nd IASJ Jazz Education Conference 2010: Teaching Improvisation - A Bridge over Classical and Jazz Studies, Ionian University, 21 to 24 October 2010

 In this paper I focus on two paradoxes, concerning 
A. The participation of the passive jazz‐listener:  In  a ... more  In this paper I focus on two paradoxes, concerning 
A. The participation of the passive jazz‐listener:  In  a  jazz  concert  the  listener  is  expected  to  work  out  her  own  dynamic equilibrium between active participation and passive reception. One can formalize the eventual double‐bind situation as follows (order): listen and participate! The paradox can be solved in one of two directions: either the listening passive, mode; or the participating, active mode, 
B. The (fixating) recording of (supposedly, unique) events: Theparadox of recorded events can result to an occasional double‐bind situation which can be formalized as follows (order): Permanently capture the unique event! The order is given, say, by jazz show‐business scene to the jazz musician. The jazz musician who’s being recorded activates her creativity, while  at  the  same  time  watching  over  the  outcome  of  this  creativity;it’s like working simultaneously under the regime of two tenses: the present tense of improvisation and the perfect tense of recording. An eventual double‐bind situation can be resolved by sticking either to the present‐ or to the perfect mode. The above described paradoxes reflect, each in its own partial way, the originary paradox of modern music: the attemptto both extend and eliminate the boundaries between Art and Nature. 

Souvenirs, Rencontres, Perspectives: Entretien Avec Serge Proulx

by Dominique Trudel

Dans cet entretien, Serge Proulx évoque ses rencontres avec des figures intellectuelles marquantes des sciences... more Dans cet entretien, Serge Proulx évoque ses rencontres avec des figures intellectuelles marquantes des sciences sociales, notamment Marcel Rioux, Edgar Morin et Gregory Bateson. Ces rencontres constituent le prisme à travers lequel se réfléchissent des considérations sur l’histoire, le développement, l’épistémologie et la dimension politique du champ d’étude de la communication.

In this interview, Serge Proulx recalls his encounters with some of social sciences’ influential figures, such as Marcel Rioux, Edgar Morin and Gregory Bateson. These encounters constitute the cornerstone of Proulx’s views on the history, genesis, development as well as epistemological and political dimensions of the communication studies field.

Analysis Tool or Design Methodology? Is there an epistemological basis for patterns?

by Dan Dixon

Gregory Bateson and the Challenge of Transdisciplinarity

by Alfonso Montuori

Montuori, A. (2005). Gregory Bateson and the Challenge of Transdisciplinarity. Cybernetics and Human Knowing. 1, 16-37.

Gregory Bateson was a thinker beyond disciplines, contributing not only to specific disciplines ranging from... more Gregory Bateson was a thinker beyond disciplines, contributing not only to specific disciplines ranging from Communication to Family Therapy to Ecology, but also helping us to think about the nature of inquiry, thought and disciplinary organization. In this paper I argue Bateson was a transdisciplinary thinker, and illustrate how his work can lead us to a new approach to inquiry. I conclude by outlining the 5 central features of transdisciplinarity: inquiry-driven rather than exclusively discipline-driven; meta-paradigmatic rather than intra-paradigmatic; informed by thinking that is complex, creative, contextualizing, and connective; inquiry as a process of creative combining rigor and imagination.

Gregory Bateson e la transdisciplinarietà

by Alfonso Montuori

Montuori, A. (2005). Gregory Bateson e la sfida della transdisciplinarietà. Elites. 2/2005, pp. 4-15.