Gregory Bateson

Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician, and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979).

Quick facts: Gregory Bateson, Born, Died, Known for, ... ▼

Gregory Bateson
Rudolph Arnheim (L) and Bateson (R) speaking at the American Federation of Arts 48th Annual Convention, 1957 Apr 6 / Eliot Elisofon, photographer American Federation of Arts records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Born	(1904-05-09)9 May 1904 Grantchester, England
Died	4 July 1980(1980-07-04) (aged 76) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Known for	Double bind, ecology of mind, deuterolearning, schismogenesis
Spouses	Margaret Mead ​ ​ (m. 1936; div. 1950)​ Elizabeth Sumner ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1957)​ Lois Cammack ​ ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	5, including Mary C. Bateson
Scientific career
Fields	Anthropology, social sciences, linguistics, cybernetics, systems theory
Influences	Margaret Mead, Conrad Hal Waddington, Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener, John von Neumann, Evelyn Hutchinson, Julian Bigelow, Carl Jung
Influenced	John C. Lilly, Heinz von Foerster, Jerry Brown, Richard Bandler, Stewart Brand, Gilles Deleuze, John Grinder, Félix Guattari, Jay Haley, Don D. Jackson, Bradford Keeney, Stephen Nachmanovitch, William Irwin Thompson, R. D. Laing, Paul Watzlawick, Carl Whitaker, Niklas Luhmann, Sharon Traweek; biosemiotics, application of type theory in social sciences, communication theory, ethnicity theory,[1] evolutionary biology, family therapy, brief therapy, neuro-linguistic programming, systemic coaching, anti-psychiatry, visual anthropology

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In Palo Alto, California, Bateson and colleagues developed the double-bind theory of schizophrenia.

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 (1941–1960), and the later set on Group Processes (1954–1960), where he represented the social and behavioral sciences. He was interested in the relationship of these fields to epistemology. His association with the editor and author Stewart Brand helped widen his influence.