Participant: Simone Mahrenholz
Affiliation: University of Manitoba, Dept. of Philosophy & School of Art
Format: Presentation and Conversation
Themes: recursion, paradigm, praxis

Professional academic philosophy is still in the beginning phase of dealing productively with Gregory Bateson. In particular his claim to present an “epistemology” comprises numerous challenges, forcing philosophy to critically reflect on several of their own fundaments. Among those are deeply entrenched distinctions, such as the either-or thinking-style (classical logic), science versus arts, logics versus aesthetics, linear causality versus feedback-circularity, praxis versus theory, emotion versus cognition, thinking versus perceiving, epistemology versus ontology, knowing versus learning, and even rationality versus spirituality.

All of these topics and relations, I want to claim, are holistically comprised in what Bateson calls an “ecology of mind”. But what does that exactly mean? Its big overall impact can be roughly divided into at least two main aspects. First the idea of feedback or recursion, a productive circularity that transcends the (type-theoretical) whole/part relation. Be it in temporal or in non-temporal states of affairs: whatever happens or whatever is “corrected” at a particular place has a recursive and holistic impact on the total of the involved features. And second: this ‘systemic’ view has considerable effects on our strategies in the face of dealing with problems: ecological, economical, psychological ones. If we take the (theoretical) concept of an “ecology” as a paradigm, the theory/praxis distinction evidently is bound to collapse – within philosophy as well.

The intended contribution wants to analyze and enfold the ‘gifts’ (meaning in German also poison…) that a paradigm-shift along the lines of the Batesonian idea of “ecology” has and apply them directly to innovation, problem solving and strategies of creativity. Using examples from sciences, arts or architecture, the lecture wants to demonstrate central ‘logical’ features of an ecological revision of contemporary epistemology and show in a concrete manner how this can lead to innovative forms of acting and understanding.