Understanding Gregory Bateson

Noel G. Charlton

Description

Gregory Bateson (1904–1980), anthropologist, psychologist, systems thinker, student of animal communication, and insightful environmentalist, was one of the most important holistic thinkers of the twentieth century. Noel G. Charlton offers this first truly accessible introduction to Bateson's work, distilling and clarifying Bateson's understanding of the "mind" or "mental systems" as being present throughout the living Earth, in systems and creatures of all kinds. Part biography, part overview of the evolution of his ideas, Charlton's book situates Bateson's thought in relation to that of other ecological thinkers. This long-awaited volume opens up this challenging thinker's body of work and introduces it to a new generation of readers.

Acknowledgments
Sacred: A Poem

1. Introduction: Gregory Bateson, the Urgency of Our Ecological Crisis and the Possibility of “Grace”

2. Bateson: The Man and the Growth of His Ideas

3. Mind and Bateson’s Claims

4. The Evolution of Bateson’s Thought about Aesthetics: The Earlier Years

5. Aesthetics, Ecology, and the Path Toward Grace

6. Aesthetic Engagement and the Grace of Relatedness

7. Bateson and The Sacred

8. Wise Action?

Appendix
Gregory Bateson—Table of Lifetime Events and Publications
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Sciences de la nature
• Sciences de l'environnement
• Vladimir Vernadsky

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 25 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791478271
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

U N D E R S TA N D I N G GREGORY BATESON

SUNY series in Environmental Philosophy and Ethics J. Baird Callicott and John van Buren, editors

U N D E R S TA N D I N G GREGORY BATESON

MIND, BEAUT Y, AND THE SACRED EARTH

NOEL G. CHARLTON

S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W YO R K P R E S S

Cover and interior photo of Gregory Bateson by Fred Roll, courtesy of the Institute for Intercultural Studies.

Published by the State University of New York Press, Albany

©2008State University of New York Press, Albany

All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without writ- ten permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechan- ical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

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Production by Ryan Morris Marketing by Susan M. Petrie This book is printed on eco-friendly paper that is 50% recycled and acid-free.

Library of Congress of Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Charlton, Noel G.,1932– Understanding Gregory Bateson : mind, beauty, and the sacred earth / Noel G. Charlton. p. cm. — (SUNY series in environmental philosophy and ethics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN978–0–7914–7451–8(hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN978–0–7914–7452–5(pbk. : alk. paper) 1.Human ecology—Study and teaching.2.Human ecology—Philosophy. 3. Human ecology—Religious aspects.4. Environmental ethics.5.Bateson, Gregory, 1904–1980—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.

GF26. C49 2008 304.2—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007033407

To the memory of Gregory Bateson, wise elder.

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Acknowledgments

Sacred: A Poem

Contents

chapter 1 Introduction: Gregory Bateson, the Urgency of Our Ecological Crisis and the Possibility of “Grace” chapter 2 Bateson: The Man and the Growth of His Ideas chapter 3 Mind and Bateson’s Claims: The Living World is Organized by Minds chapter 4 The Evolution of Bateson’s Thought about Aesthetics: The Earlier Years chapter 5 Aesthetics, Ecology, and the Path Toward Grace

chapter 6 Aesthetic Engagement and the Grace of Relatedness

chapter 7 Bateson and The Sacred

chapter 8 Wise Action?

appendix Table of Lifetime Events and Publications

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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Acknowledgments

am indebted to many friendsand several organizations for help I given during the process of study, beginning for me rather late in life and extending over a period of fifteen years, which has resulted in the creation of this book. Initially stimulated by study at Schumacher Col- lege in Devon, England, the process developed into an MA and PhD project supported and encouraged by Lancaster University’s Institute for Environment, Philosophy, and Public Policy. I offer my grateful thanks to the Epiphany Philosophers of Cambridge and to the Countess Eleanor Peel Trust of Lancaster for substantial financial assistance during these years. Particular thanks must go to Dr. Jenny Brine and her colleagues in Lancaster University’s Inter-Library Loans Service, to Paul Stubbs and the staff of Special Collections and the Bateson Archive at U.C. Santa Cruz and to members of the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California who, together, provided copies of all Gregory Bateson’s228publications. Among the many friends and colleagues at Lancaster University who contributed wisdom, encouragement, and creative criticism I must mention, in particular, Professor Alan Holland, Dr. Jane Howarth, Professor John Benson, Dr. Emily Brady, Professor Ruth Chadwick, Professor Brian Wynne, Professor Robin Grove-White, Dr. Isis Brook, Dr. David Littlewood, Dr. Bronislaw Szerszynski, Dr. Sue Weldon, and a whole phalanx of fellow students—many participating in IEPPP’s unique MA courses in “Values and the Environment,” which are at present transferring to the University of Central Lancashire, Preston. Most particularly, I wish to thank Vernon Pratt, tutor, counselor, and friend, who steered Lancaster’s Philosophy Department through diffi- cult times and nursed its evolving identity into partnership with the Center for the Study of Environmental Change as IEPPP, giving me his constant encouragement, support, and wisdom throughout.

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