gregory bateson mind and nature a necessary unity

In some respects, the part of the book that most excited me on this re-read was the appendix 'Time Is Out of Joint,' a memorandum circulated to the University of California Regents (of whom Bateson was one). Most of the text is organized into long chapters containing sets of numbered theses, each treated in a few pages of discussion and example. He makes great hay out of Russell's theory of logical types, metaphorically expanding its application to the whole panoply of hierarchical phenomena and systems. Although there is a glossary of particular words Bateson felt his readers might find alien, his general lexicon pulls no punches. I found this book a fast read, but it is not for the intellectually lazy.

He uses contemporary biology for his understanding of nature, but he uses philosophical materials and cybernetic theories in preference to the products of academic psychology. Bateson characterizes these two fields (the 'mind' and 'nature' of the title) as the 'Great Stochastic Processes.' Beginning with an emphasis on 'the pattern that connects,' he introduces a kit of ideas with putatively universal application in what he calls - taking a cue from Jung's usage in Septem Sermones ad Mortuos - the Creatura. perception, ideation, logic, and explanation) has in common with biological change in individuals and populations (adaptation and evolution). This book treats the features that human thought (i.e.

Mind and Nature is preliminary to that latter book (which became Angels Fear), laying out the epistemology and notions of organization and change that would underlie it. Mind and Nature is Bateson's last book, although two followed it posthumously, and in the colloquy with his daughter that closes Mind and Nature he discusses his ambition to write a volume called Where Angels Fear to Tread that would more directly treat concerns about consciousness, aesthetics, and the sacred.

Gregory bateson mind and nature a necessary unity