Steps to an Ecology of Mind

Steps to an Ecology of Mind gathers essays Gregory Bateson wrote over several decades of work in anthropology, psychiatry, biology, and the early years of cybernetics. Rather than a single continuous argument, the book is organized as a sequence of pieces that build toward Bateson's central concern: that mind is not confined inside an individual head but exists in patterns of relationship, feedback and communication that extend through people, cultures and ecosystems alike. Topics range from the structure of play and ritual to the dynamics of addiction, from the logic of schizophrenic communication to the failures of linear thinking about the natural world. Bateson uses the phrase "ecology of mind" to describe this way of looking at interconnected systems of ideas, arguing that relationships and patterns, not isolated substances or facts, are what most need to be understood if humanity is to avoid ecological and social crisis. Credits: Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Balantine Books - Random house.