abduction

addiction

aesthetics

caprice

change

consciousness

cultural contact

culture

culture contact

cybernetics

deutero-learning

difference

distinction

double-bind

ecology of mind

economics of flexibility

eidos

epistemology

ethos

evolution

function

fundamentalism

hierarchy

information

intelligence

knowledge

life

loose thinking

matalogue

metacommunication

metapattern

mind

money

nature

Naven

noise

non-verbal communication

object

order

paradox

plateau

regenerative feedback

religion

schismogenesis

schizophrenia

science

second-order cybernetics

Sigmund Freud

strict thinking

survival of the fit

syllogisms in grass

system

systems thinking

ternary system

threshold

value

nationality

British

occupation / innovator as

anthropologist

cyberneticist

environmental anthropologist

semiotician

innovator in the field of

communication studies

complexity theory

environmental anthropology

information theory

linguistics

semiotics

systems theory

visual anthropology

psychological anthropology

American

philosopher

sociologist

linguist

biologist

atheism

scientific organization

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

anthropology

posthumanism

Steps to an Ecology of Mind

is a scientific methodology similar to comparative anatomy which emphasizes patterns in relationships.

Abduction. Used by Bateson to refer to a third scientific methodology (along with induction and deduction) which was central to his own holistic and qualitative approach. Refers to a method of comparing patterns of relationship, and their symmetry or asymmetry (as in, for example, comparative anatomy), especially in complex organic (or mental) systems. The term was originally coined by American Philosopher/Logician Charles Sanders Peirce, who used it to refer to the process by which scientific hypotheses are generated. (wiki)

is a psychological event whereby the struggle of addiction is what the addict is addicted to.

the alcoholic sees himself as the battle between himself and alcohol

is responsiveness to the pattern which connects.

By aesthetic,! mean responsive to the pattern which connects' (Bateson1979:9)

is a combination of many levels of mind in order to make a statement of their combination.

It is not that art is the expression of the unconscious, but rather that it is concerned with the relation betweenthe levels of mental process. From a work of art it may be possible to analyse out some unconscious thoughts of the artist, but I believe that, for example, Freud's analysis of Leonardo's 'Virgin on the Knees of St. Anne' precisely misses the point of the whole exercise. Artistic skill is the combining of many levels of mind-unconscious, conscious and external to make a statement of their combination. It is not a matter of expressing a single level. (Bateson 1970: 12)

is the tendency of rules to suddenly change without warning in some competitive (natural or business) environment.

The word 'caprice' is used by Bateson to describe the tricks of Nature. It applies to the competitive environment of commercial enterprises, as well as other classes of system discussed on this website. An enterprise is 'encouraged' to rely on some characteristic of the competitive environment, and then the rules of the game are changed. For example, as the result of some unanticipated political activity by a competitor. This is 'not fair': Gregory Bateson, 'The New Conceptual Frames for Behavioural Research' Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Psychiatric Institute (Princeton NJ: New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute, September 17, 1958) reprinted in G. Bateson, A Sacred Unity: Further Steps to an Ecology of Mind (edited R.E. Donaldson, New York: Harper Collins, 1991) pp 93-110

is either change in the variables (within the terms of the given system, such as a thermostat... and change in the parameters : Change in the very terms which define the system (switching over the thermostat).

First, it is necessary again to stress the distinction between change in the variables (which is, by definition, within the terms of the given system) and change in the parameters, i.e., change in the very terms which define the system remembering always that it is the observer who does the defining. (Bateson 'naven' 294)

is a bridge between the cybernetic networks of individual, society, and ecology.

According to Bateson, consciousness is the bridge between the cybernetic networks of individual, society and ecology and that the mismatch between the systems due to improper understanding will be result in the degradation of the entire supreme cybernetic system or Mind. Bateson saw consciousness as developed through Occidental epistemology was at direct odds with Mind.[29]' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory Bateson

is an event whereby, for some time after the encounter, the two parties in question will behave in an exploratory or almost random manner, each retaining its own norms and not yet developing any special adjustments to the situation of contact.

where a native population is brought for the first time in contact with Europeans-- that, for some time after the shift, the two parties to such a situation will behave in an exploratory or almost random manner, each retaining its own norms and not yet developing any special adjustments to the situation of contact' (Bateson Steps 93). MORALS -[there is a time when you don't know what your moral are because you are still finding them vis-a-vis these new partners -think in this respect of Benedict and her distinction between shame and guilt]

is a mechanism for modifying and satisfying the sexual needs of the individual, or for the enforcement of the norms of behaviour, or for supplying the individuals with food.

Malinowski and his pupils,. . . have shown that almost the whole of a culture may be seen variously as a mechanism for modifying and satisfying the sexual needs of the individuals, or for the enforcement of the norms of behaviour, or for supplying the individuals with food'

is a processes involving the odd fact that group 'a' may do 'xyz' internally but, when encountering another group externally, they might do 'cdf'.

groups may do XYZ internally but externally, they do CDF. 'where a native population is brought for the first time in contact with Europeans-- that, for some time after the shift, the two parties to such a situation will behave in an exploratory or almost random manner, each retaining its own norms and not yet developing any special adjustments to the situation of contact' (Bateson Steps 93).

is concerned not with events and objects but the information 'carried' by events and objects.

Gregory Bateson, one of the strongest anthropological proponents of cybernetics, explained in 1967 that 'the subject matter of cybernetics is not events and objects but the information 'carried' by events and objects' (1987a:407). The form of communication, what Bateson referred to as 'pattern,' had become the very subject of analysis (1987a: 412) (in Riles 2001:62).

is grounded in the assumption that everything is information. There is neither matter nor energy, simply meaningful differences. We can thus cease to speak of objects, speaking rather of 'object-events', which are what they are by virtue of their location in interlocking systems of various orders, as when he speaks, not of a lumberjack at work, but of 'the system tree-eyes-brain-muscles-axe-stroke-tree'.

in [cybernetics] it is assumed that all is information: there is neither matter nor energy, simply meaningful differences. Bateson ceased to speak of objects, speaking rather of 'object-events', which are what they are by virtue of their location in interlocking systems of various orders, as when he speaks, not of a lumberjack at work, but of 'the system tree-eyes-brain-muscles-axe-stroke-tree'. Thus cybernetics recapitulates Butler who argued in 1903 that: 'in the end we shall be driven to admit the unity of the universe so completely as to be compelled to deny that there is either an external or an internal, but must see everything as both external and internal at one and the same time, subject and object (butler 327)' in (Tresh 'Heredity..'1998)

is the component of all learning whereby, any given lesson also necessarily contains a 'meta' lesson about expectations within the category to which that lesson belongs.

Also called 'meta-learning' or 'set-learning' is a secondary learning process, whereby a lesson teaches about universal expectations on another level. The aspect of learning not directed toward the particular problems at hand, but toward particular contexts in which those problems exist. In short, meta-learning is related to dispositional and/or character formation involved in specific learning. Bateson writes, 'I assume that in any learning experiment e.g., of the Pavlovian or the Instrumental Reward type there occurs not only that learning in which the experimenter is usually interested, namely, the increased frequency of the conditioned response in the experimental context, but also a more abstract or higher order of learning, in which the experimental subject improves his ability to deal with contexts of a given type. The subject comes to act more and more as if contexts of this type were expectable in his universe.' (Bateson 'naven' : 285).

is also a difference between differences. For example, there is a difference in texture and color. And another unique difference between size and shape. And still a third difference that can be located between these two sets of differences.

First note that differences in texture are different (a) from differences in color. Now note that differences in size are different (b) from differences in shape. Similarly ratios are different (c) from subtractive differences. Now let me invite you, as disciples of Korzybski, to define the differences between 'different (a)', 'different (b)', and 'different (c)' in the above paragraph. The computer in the human head boggles at the task. (Bateson 1970 : 9)

 exists also between differences. In other words, differences are themselves to be differentiated and classified.

But there are differences between differences. Every effective difference denotes a demarcation, a line of classification, and all classification is hierarchic. In other words, differences are themselves to be differentiated and classified. In this context I will only touch lightly on the matter of classes of difference, because to carry the matter further would land us in problems of Principia Mathematica. (Bateson 1970 : 9)

is always dependent upon what phenomena we wish to understand.

What do I mean by 'my' mind' I suggest that the delimitation of an individual mind must always depend upon what phenomena we wish to understand or explain. (Bateson 1970 : 10)

is not a means of resolving hostility, but rather a means of stabilizing or maintaining it.

This is not, Bateson observes, a means of resolving the hostility between the two, but rather a means of stabilizing it, or a recognition and maintaining of this hostility. The Balinese thus do not attempt to resolve the build-up of tension by transcending it and bringing it to a close, whether from within or from without, but they maintain a 'plateau of intensity' from within, a plateau without resolution. ' (NET)

is what we more generally call 'form' or 'structure' (contrasted with ethos, or the feelings and emotions and tradition of a person or group).

In Bateson's usage, eidos is what we more generally call 'form' or 'structure' (cf. Kroeber 1963 [1948]: 100-3). The sets of oppositions he describes in his study of national character (spectatorship v. exhibitionism... dominance v. submission) are part of the eidos of American and of English culture. Ethos refers to the customs, the traditions, also the feelings, the collective emotions, either of a given culture or of a given event which is defined according to cultural norms. More specifically it refers to their distinctive character or spirit. These concepts are related, and at least in his nationalcharacter study ethos seems to depend for its cross-cultural definition on the relation between the eidos of one culture and that of another. History and Theory in Anthropology The methods Bateson used seem particularly suited to the analysis of conflict and potential conflict, and he developed a similar approach to understanding conflict between, for example, male and female among the Iatmul, and East and West in the nuclear arms race. Similarly, Canadian anthropologist Elliott Leyton (1974) has analysed convict in Northern Ireland in terms of direct, eidotic oppositions between aspects of the ethos of Nationalist and Unionist cultures (or Catholic and Protestant) in Northern Ireland. Anthropologist from Northern Ireland have criticized Leyton since then for oversimplifying, as certainly Bateson did on Americans and Englishmen, but the point of this kind of analysis is that convict is often better understood in terms of structures and processes of interaction than in terms of ethnographic detail alone. (Barnard)

is the study of knowing, thinking, and deciding. It is at once a science and a philosophy.

A branch of science combined with a branch of philosophy. As science, epistemology is the study of how particular organisms or aggregates of organisms know, think and decide. As philosophy, epistemology is the study of the necessary limits and other characteristics of the processes of knowing, thinking and deciding.' Bateson (1979:242)

is the culturally standardized system of organization of instincts and emotions of the individuals.

defined as 'The expression of a culturallly standardized system of organization of the instincts and emotions of the individuals' (Naven p.118, Steps 108).

Gregory Bateson

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