E-Book Overview
In 32 posthumously collected lectures, articles and essays, anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) applies principles of cybernetics, which he helped develop, to psychiatry, the mind/body split, evolutionary biology and linguistics. Bateson discusses Balinese trance-dance, the dynamics of the schizophrenic family, cross-cultural contact and the need to reestablish a "sacred unity" between the human mind and the biosphere. Many of the pieces are technical or specialized; they range in provenance from 1942 to 1980; most were previously published. Donaldson, a former colleague of Bateson, has grouped the selections to roughly follow the sequence of Bateson's popular Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
These essays explore those ideas and patterns within the human mind from a dynamic and holistic view of natural history and our species. Giving preference to subjectivity, Bateson rejects the traditional mind/body dualism but focuses on those relationships or differences within thought and perception. His research in zoology (dolphins), psychiatry (schizophrenia), and epistemology (the Iatmul of New Guinea) allowed for insights into culture and personality studies as well as contributions to the birth of cybernetics and systems theory. Bateson's worldview emphasizes the fact that our species is within an evolving environment and that human pathology must be seen in terms of a total vision of nature.
E-Book Content
A SACRED UNITY further Stepsto an EcologyofMind
Gregory Bateson Edited by Rodney E. Donaldson
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A Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
A SACREDUNITY:Further Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Copyright © 1991 by the
Estate of Gregory Bateson. Introduction and Bibliography copyright © 1991 by Rodney E. Donaldson. 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 written permission exceptin the case of brief quotations embodiedin critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollinsPublishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York,
NY 10022.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData Bateson, Gregory. A sacred unity: further steps to an ecology of mind / Gregory Bateson; edited by Rodney E. Donaldson.—Ist ed. ,
cm.
“ACornelia and Michael Bessie book.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-06-250100-3 (alk. paper) 1. Knowledge, Theory of. 2. Ethnology. 3. Evolution. I. Donaldson, Rodney E. II. Title. BD161.B34 1991 121—dc20 90-56469 CIP 91
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This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National StandardsInstitute Z39.48Standard.
Contents Acknowledgments
Vil
Introduction ix Editor’s Note on the Selection and Arrangement of Material xxi Part I: Form and Pattern in Anthropology 1. Cultural Determinants of Personality 2. Human Dignity andthe Varieties of Civilization 3. Sex and Culture
3 29 35
4. Naven: Epilogue 1958
49
5. Distortions Under Culture Contact 6. Some Componentsof Socialization for Trance 7. From Anthropology to Epistemology
69 73 89
PartIl: Form and Pathology in Relationship 8. The New Conceptual Frames for Behavioral Research 9. Cultural Problems Posed by a Study of Schizophrenic
93
Process 10. A Social Scientist Views the Emotions
111 127
11. The Message of Reinforcement 12. The Double-Bind Theory—Misunderstood? 13. The Growth of Paradigmsfor Psychiatry
133 147 15]
Part Ill: Epistemology and Ecology
14. Mind/Environment