Gregory Bateson's 'Ecology of Mind' - The Course

Gregory Bateson’ s legendary UCSC lectures on “ ecology of mind” are brought together in print for the first time in this unique volume. Based on newly transcribed recordings from the 1970s, The Course follows Bateson as he explores pattern, communication and relationship across biology, language, culture and politics. Moving between blackboard diagrams, classroom exercises and wide-ranging stories, he invites students to see life as a web of interconnected systems. Essential reading for anyone engaged with systems thinking, ecology and education.

Gregory Bateson (1904 – 1980) was an interdisciplinary anthropologist, social scientist, systems thinker, linguist, anthropologist, and cyberneticist. His other writings include Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979). Bateson's interest in systems theory forms a thread running through his work. He was one of the original members of the core group of the Macy conferences in Cybernetics. Phillip Guddemi was an undergraduate student of Gregory Bateson’ s at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the middle 1970s. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles dealing with Gregory Bateson’ s work. He is also an anthropologist who has worked in Papua New Guinea and Macedonia; and he is currently President of the Bateson Idea Group and one of the board members for the International Bateson Institute. Gregory Bateson (1904 – 1980) was an interdisciplinary anthropologist, social scientist, systems thinker, linguist, anthropologist, and cyberneticist. His other writings include Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979). Bateson's interest in systems theory forms a thread running through his work. He was one of the original members of the core group of the Macy conferences in Cybernetics.