Understanding Gregory Bateson, livre ebook

Introduction to Gregory Bateson's unique perspective on the relationship of humanity to the natural world.

Introduction to Gregory Bateson's unique perspective on the relationship of humanity to the natural world.

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