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Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Gregory Bateson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sebastian Kraemer
Sebastian Kraemer*
Affiliation:
Child & Family Department, Tavistock Clinic, 120 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BA
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Extract

This is not a book, but a collection of essays. Reconsidering it has been a difficult task. Some pieces are stunningly fresh and inspiring, others infuriating and confusing. It began happily enough. In the introduction, “The science of mind and order”, Bateson brilliantly frames the Old Testament as a scientific statement about order: “… and God divided the light from the darkness … and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (p. 29). Modern science has neglected form for substance, yet thinking – making sense of the patterns in the world – is entirely a matter of form. This is the point of Steps to an Ecology of Mind.

Type
Books Reconsidered
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 2 , August 1993 , pp. 265 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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References

Bateson, G. (1973) Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution and Epistemology. St Albans: Granada.Google Scholar
Bateson, G. (1978) The birth of a matrix or double bind and epistemology. In Beyond the Double Bind (ed. Berger, M.), p. 53. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Bateson, M. C. (1984) With a Daughter's Eye. New York: Morrow.Google Scholar
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Stierlin, H. & Weber, G. (1989) Unlocking the Family Door: A Systemic Approach to the Understanding and Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
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