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Index
Contents
Acknowledgement of Sources
Prologue
A Brief History of (Second-Order) Cybernetics
References
Mapping the Varieties of Second-Order Cybernetics
Introduction
Reconstructing SOC
Towards a map of second-orderE cybernetics and of second-order science
The Kline-Martin-Hypothesis revisited
Conclusion
Afterword: Ranulph Glanville’s contributions to second-order cybernetics
Acknowledgements
References
Part I: Exploring Second-Order Cybernetics and its Fivefold Agenda
Second-Order Cybernetics as a Fundamental Revolution in Science
Introduction
Part 1: A short personal history of second-order cybernetics
Part 2: Von Foerster and a revolution of the general scientific method
Part 3: An example of practicing social research from within
Part 4: Important consequences of doing science from within
Part 5: New horizons for second-order cybernetics
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
Obstacles and Opportunities in the Future of Second-Order Cybernetics and Other Compatible Methods
Connecting Second-Order Cybernetics’ Revolution with Genetic Epistemology
A broader approach towards epistemology
Challenges and achievements
Shed the Name to Find Second-Order Success: Renaming Second-Order Cybernetics to Rescue its Essence
Beware False Dichotomies
Second-Order Cybernetics Needs a Unifying Methodology
Introduction
Expanding the research arena
Developing a sense-making methodology for second-order cybernetics
Advancing the science of second-order cybernetics
Conclusion
Viva the Fundamental Revolution! Confessions of a Case Writer
Introduction
Background
Second-order cybernetics and the case writing process
The role of second-order cybernetics in business research
Conclusion
Author’s Response: Struggling to Define an Identity for Second-Order Cybernetics
The context of second-order cybernetics
Some debates within the field
Implications for applications
Conclusion
Combined References
Cybernetics, Reflexivity and Second-Order Science
Introduction
Distinction and circularity
Mathematics
The definition of cybernetics and the cybernetics of definition
Cybernetics and reflexive domains
Conclusion
Remarks from a Continental Philosophy Point of View
Finally Understanding Eigenforms
Eigenforms, Coherence, and the Imaginal
Context: Science and anti-science
Eigenforms and the imaginal
Second-order objectivity, precision, and coherence
Conserving the Disposition for Wonder
Author’s Response: Distinction, Eigenform and the Epistemology of the Imagination
Combined References
Cybernetic Foundations for Psychology
Introduction
The story of psychology
Understanding cybernetics and its contributions to psychology: The story of cybernetics
Cybernetics in psychology
Unifying “process” and “person” approaches
Unifying individual and social psychologies
Future directions
Conclusion
Appendix: Contents of standard undergraduate textbooks
Wielding the Cybernetic Scythe in the Blunting Undergrowth of Psychological Confusion
Introduction
“Psychology” does not exist
Irrelevance of psychological research
Cooking the books
The replication crisis
“Guild-ing the wily”
Conclusion: A genuinely psychological psychology
To What Extent Can Second-Order Cybernetics Be a Foundation for Psychology?
The Importance – and the Difficulty – of Moving Beyond Linear Causality
Linear causality: The underlying paradigm of science
Why a paradigm shift is worthwhile but difficult to achieve
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
Obstacles to Cybernetics Becoming a Conceptual Framework and Metanarrative in the Psychologies
The sidelining of cybernetics
Obstacle 1: Teacher and learner challenges
Obstacle 2: Traditional universities
Obstacle 3: Linear causality, research methodology, and technological efficacy
Obstacle 4: Personal preference, ethics, and responsibilities
Conclusion
The Social and the Psychological: Conceptual Cybernetic Unification vs Disciplinary Analysis?
Second Thoughts on Cybernetic Unifications
The problem of levels
The problem of multiple-level dynamics
The problem of being sufficiently different
Cybernetics and Synergetics as Foundations for Complex Approach Towards Complexities of Life
Introduction
“Third-order” cybernetics
Synergetics
Conclusion
Author’s Response: On Becoming and Being a Cybernetician
Acknowledgements
Combined References
Consciousness as Self-Description in Differences
Introduction
Part 1: How consciousness does not work
The subject–object uncertainty
Reflection is always self-reflection
Part 2: How consciousness works
Consciousness is “a difference that makes difference”
Differentiation – local and global level
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
On the Too Often Overlooked Complexity of the Tension between Subject and Object
Naturalistic dualism
The language of consciousness
Science or a mystery
Chiasm
Beyond the limits of consciousness
Where Is Consciousness?
Hiding in plain sight
Can there be a theory of consciousness?
Attending the unattendable
Theorizing Agents: Their Games, Hermeneutical Tools and Epistemic Resources
How Can Meaning be Grounded within a Closed Self-Referential System?…
Self-Description Alone Will not Account for Qualia
Consciousness as Self-Description and the Inescapability of Reduction
The Non-Relationality of Consciousness
Author’s Response: Phenomenology of the System: Intentionality, Differences, Understanding, and the Unity of Consciousness
Science or mystery: The role of understanding
How closed is the system? Differences and the unity of consciousness
Acknowledgement
Combined References
Design Research as a Variety of Second-Order Cybernetic Practice
Introduction
Method and practice in design and research
Design research and second-order cybernetics
Second-order science
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Design Cycles: Conversing with Lawrence Halprin
Understanding Design from a Second-Order Cybernetics Perspective: Is There a Place for Material Agency?
What Can Cybernetics Learn from Design?
Differentiating externally motivated application and internally motivated practice
The pleasure of constructing the world
Cybernetic machines for thinking and showing
Rigor in Research, Honesty and Values
Digital Design Research and Second-Order Cybernetics
Cybernetics Is the Answer, but What Was the Conversation About?
Design as an invitation to dialogue
Conclusion
(Architectural) Design Research in the Age of Neuroscience: The Value of the Second-Order Cybernetic Practice Perspective
Author’s Response: Beyond Application
Ill-defined problems
Material agency and viability
Designing systems
Combined References
“Black Box” Theatre: Second-Order Cybernetics and Naturalism in Rehearsal and Performance
Introduction
The impasse in theatre studies
Stanislavski’s cybernetic system
Active Analysis: An ordinary language description
Beginnings
Active Analysis: A conversation theoretic description
Conversation A
The stage as modeling facility
Conversation B and the return to the text
Conversation A: Subsequent iterations with re-entry
Performance
Future directions
Conclusion
Bruce Clarke & Dorothy Chansky
“Truthful” Acting Emerges Through Forward Model Development
Naturalism in Improvisation and Embodiment
Opening the Black Box of Minds: Theatre as a Laboratory of System Unknowns
Does Second-Order Cybernetics Provide a Framework for Theatre Studies?
A Theatre for Exploring the Cybernetic
The Many Varieties of Experimentation in Second-Order Cybernetics: Art, Science, Craft
Dynamics and relations
Recursion
Conversation
Author’s Response: “Playing With Dynamics”: Procedures and Possibilities for a Theatre of Cybernetics
Procedures
Possibilities
Combined References
Part II: Reflecting on the Perspectives for a Fivefold Agenda of Second-Order Cybernetics
Remarks of a Philosopher of Mathematics and Science
Structural style
Objectivity
Sustainability
Conclusion
The Past and the Future of Second-Order Cybernetics
References
Embracing Realists Without Embracing Realism: The Future of Second-Order Cybernetics
Introduction
Resistance to change
Including realism within a constructivist approach
Including constructivism within realism
Context allows pragmatic bedfellows
Embracing realists without embracing realism
Concepts/tools for participant-observers
Contributions past and present
Recommendations
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Some Implications of Second-Order Cybernetics
From emergence to methodology
Second-order science as designed practice
1. The triadic network: Observer, language, society
2. Reflexivity and reciprocity
3. Circularity and re-entry
4. Reflection and perception
5. Transdisciplinarity
6. Multi-perspectival dialogic
7. Intervention and ethics
Towards a conscious methodology
The implications for human affairs
References
New Directions in Second-Order Cybernetics
What is new?
What would success look like?
Second-order cybernetics and six conceptual problems
Paradigms and the problem of the two cultures: Science and art
Disciplines and the problem of logical types
Desires and the problem of conscious purpose
Craft and the problem of time
Design and the problem of participation
Ethics and the problem of human nature
New directions and questions
References
Epilogue
Possible Futures for Cybernetics
References
Author Biographies
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