Contents

Preface

XVII

Part One / THE CULTURAL CONTEXT chapter 1 Deep Ecology—A New Paradigm 3

Part Two / THE RISE OF SYSTEMS THINKING chapter 2 From the Parts to the Whole 17 chapter 3 Systems Theories 36

chapter 4 The Logic of the Mind 51

Part Three / THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE chapter 5 Models of Self-Organization 75 chapter 6 The Mathematics of Complexity 112

Part Four / THE NATURE OF LIFE chapter 7 A New Synthesis 157

Dissipative Structures 177 Self-Making 194 The Unfolding of Life 222 Bringing Forth a World 264

CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11

X

CONTENTS

chapter 12 Knowing That We Know 286 Epilogue: Ecological Literacy 297 Appendix: Bateson Revisited 305 Notes 309 Bibliography 325 Index 335

This we know.

All things are connected like the blood

which unites one family. . . .

Whatever befalls the earth,

befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.

Man did not weave the web of life;

he is merely a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Ted Perry, inspired by Chief Seattle

\