Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A Legacy for Living SystemsBateson's Method: Double Description. What is It? How Does It Work? What Do We Learn?

A Legacy for Living Systems: Bateson's Method: Double Description. What is It? How Does It Work?... [Gregory Bateson introduced the concept of double description as a method of analysis critical to his challenge to bridge the connection between mind and evolution. First we examine three ideas crucial to double description: abduction, induction, and logical types. Abduction is employed to find potentially informative similar patterns. Induction makes use of the systematic comparison of abductions to shift attention from similarities and differences, to relationships of a higher logical type in which juxtaposition of similar differences generates higher-order percepts, concepts, and normative rules. Next we describe a number of recent findings from evolutionary developmental biology (evodevo) that exemplify a parallel logic behind Bateson’s notion of a biological pattern which connects at multiple levels of biological form. The roles of gene duplication–differentiation and correlated body segment duplication–differentiation in evolution are shown to exemplify an evolutionary parallel to double description. We conclude that Bateson’s notion of double description was a prescient insight concerning the commonalities between the creation of knowledge and the evolution of adaptive forms in biology. Both share a duplication–differentiation form-production logic that epitomizes what distinguishes creatura (both living and mental processes) from pleroma (simple material-energetic processes).] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Legacy for Living SystemsBateson's Method: Double Description. What is It? How Does It Work? What Do We Learn?

Part of the Biosemiotics Book Series (volume 2)
Editors: Hoffmeyer, Jesper
Hui, Julie; Cashman, Tyrone; Deacon, Terrence
A Legacy for Living Systems — Jan 1, 2008
Download PDF
15 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/a-legacy-for-living-systems-bateson-s-method-double-description-what-h87f5LehGa

References (4)

Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer Netherlands 2008
ISBN
978-1-4020-6705-1
Pages
77 –92
DOI
10.1007/978-1-4020-6706-8_6
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Gregory Bateson introduced the concept of double description as a method of analysis critical to his challenge to bridge the connection between mind and evolution. First we examine three ideas crucial to double description: abduction, induction, and logical types. Abduction is employed to find potentially informative similar patterns. Induction makes use of the systematic comparison of abductions to shift attention from similarities and differences, to relationships of a higher logical type in which juxtaposition of similar differences generates higher-order percepts, concepts, and normative rules. Next we describe a number of recent findings from evolutionary developmental biology (evodevo) that exemplify a parallel logic behind Bateson’s notion of a biological pattern which connects at multiple levels of biological form. The roles of gene duplication–differentiation and correlated body segment duplication–differentiation in evolution are shown to exemplify an evolutionary parallel to double description. We conclude that Bateson’s notion of double description was a prescient insight concerning the commonalities between the creation of knowledge and the evolution of adaptive forms in biology. Both share a duplication–differentiation form-production logic that epitomizes what distinguishes creatura (both living and mental processes) from pleroma (simple material-energetic processes).]

Published: Jan 1, 2008

Keywords: Abduction; double description; logical types; pattern which connects; EvoDevo; emergence

There are no references for this article.