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Theories are considered thruthful until some anomalies come up, with such intensity or quantity that they show, or at least make you doubt, that the said theory is valid.
In 1948, Cybernetics appeared. According to Gregory Bateson, it is the biggest bite to the fruit of the tree of knowledge that mankind has taken in the last two thousand years. This was the breaking point, but many "anomalies" had been recorded on different fields of science before, such as: the concept of internal environment by Claude Bernard, the theory of relativity by Einstein, the principle of incertitude by Heisenberg, the general systems theory by von Bertalanffy, the notion of homeostasis by Canon, etc.
From then on, a new paradigm comes up. The previous one, that has been called the simplicity paradigm, was known for its search for the ultimate elements, atomic elements, in all the disciplines, and for accepting linear causality only (final cause and efficient cause). The new paradigm deals with wholes and incorporates the core concept of feedback (efficient cause and final cause together in one unit).
Because the group where Wiener worked was interdisciplinary, it allowed these concepts born on the field of physics to spread to other fields. The participation of Rosenblueth made it possible to use the concept of feedback in neurology, Bateson and Margaret Mead took it to the field of social sciences, and from there it would come to family therapy. Later, the contributions of the mathematician Heinz von Foerster and of the Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, took these concepts a step forward by talking about cybernetics of second order or cybernetics of cybernetics, creating the theory of the observer that questions objectivity and makes Heinz von Foerster say that that is why he says -with all his modesty- that claiming objectivity has no sense. We will no longer talk of observed systems but of observing systems.
Pakman says that the cybernetics of cybernetics does not have an epistemology but it is an epistemology.
It is important to know the assumptions underlying the theories we use on the field of mediation. In Mind and Nature "(Every schoolboy knows...)", Bateson tells us that for this purpose it is widely wished (but not at all necessary) that the scientist should know conscientiously his/her own assumptions and that he/she should be able to state them. It is also convenient and necessary for the scientific thinking to know the assumptions of his/her colleagues working on the same field. And above all, it is necessary for the reader of scientific articles to know the author's assumptions.(page 22). Further on, he reminds us that we will never be able to claim having achieved a definite knowledge of anything.
This is also valid for cybernetic thinking.
We can divide the theories on which mediators are based in two groups:
a) Simplicity paradigm
b) Complexity paradigm
Some theories are neither in one nor in the other,
but half-way between them. They have seen the complexity and the importance
of relationships but those who use them have not been able to think "cybernetically"
yet.
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