Mind and Nature: A Necessary UnityDutton, 1979 - 238 pagina's "This is the major life's work of one of the great thinkers of our time. Gregory Bateson's contributions to anthropology, biology, psychiatry, and other social sciences have won him international fame. Here he does no less than provide a new way of thinking about the world around us. We must, he says, learn to 'think as Nature thinks,' if we are to learn to live in harmony on the planet. And insofar as 'we are a mental process, to that same extent we must expect the natural world to show similar characteristics of mentality.' Thus the startling theme of this book is that biological evolution is a mental process. Occidental quantitative thinking (the kind of thought that too often results in the philosophy of 'bigger is better') is actually unnatural, or contrary to the natural order; we must move away from this thinking and begin to delve deeply into the actual patterns of the world around us. Around these themes Bateson has woven one of the most fascinating, challenging, and truly important discussions yet published on the human condition. A brilliant teacher, Bateson has filled his book with intriguing examples from the world of nature he knows so well. A crab's claw becomes a lesson in Nature's symmetry, an elephant's trunk a clue to the roles that context and function play in the natural order. What pattern, asks Bateson, connects the crab to the lobster and the orchid to the primrose--and all the four of them to me? Indeed, this book is a lively exploration of the pattern that connects all the living beings of our planet."--front flap. |
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Pagina 148
... natural selection will work to eliminate those alternatives which are unfavorable from the point of view of something like survival and that this elimination will , on the whole , favor those alternatives which are harmless or ...
... natural selection will work to eliminate those alternatives which are unfavorable from the point of view of something like survival and that this elimination will , on the whole , favor those alternatives which are harmless or ...
Pagina 173
... natural selection nor random processes of trial and error in thought ac- companied by selective reinforcement will necessarily work for the good of either species or individual . And at the social level , it is still not clear that the ...
... natural selection nor random processes of trial and error in thought ac- companied by selective reinforcement will necessarily work for the good of either species or individual . And at the social level , it is still not clear that the ...
Pagina 221
... selection in bi- ology must always stress compatibility with the immediate past and that over long evolutionary time it is internal selection which determines those " homol- ogies " which used to delight a previous generation of ...
... selection in bi- ology must always stress compatibility with the immediate past and that over long evolutionary time it is internal selection which determines those " homol- ogies " which used to delight a previous generation of ...
Inhoudsopgave
Every Schoolboy Knows | 23 |
Multiple Versions of the World | 65 |
Criteria of Mental Process | 89 |
Copyright | |
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Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
abstract action aggregate animal become behavior bilateral symmetry binocular vision biological bithorax calibration called Chapter characteristics circuit coding combined complex components consciousness context contrast crab creature criteria DAUGHTER differentiation embryology energy environment epigenesis epistemology evolution evolutionary example experience explanation fact FATHER gametes genes genetic change Gregory Bateson hierarchy homology human Iatmul ideas individual interaction internal Lamarck Lamarckian learning logical typing look matter mental process messages midwife toad mind natural selection necessary negentropy nuptial pads odd numbers partly pathways pattern which connects perception perhaps phenomena phenotype pieces precisely predict presuppositions problem propositions quantity question random relations relationship relevance schismogenesis SCHOOLBOY KNOWS sea anemone self-corrective sense organ sequence side simple somatic change sort species step stochastic processes stochastic system surely switch symmetry tautology temperature theory things thought tion variable whole words