Heinz von Foerster

Understanding Systems: Conversations on Epistemology and Ethics

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

How real is reality? Are our images of the world mere inventions, or does an external reality correspond to them? Is it possible to know the truth?
These are questions that physicist and philosopher Heinz von Foerster and journalist Bernhard Poerksen debate about in their conversations. Together, they explore the borders of our capacity for knowledge. They discuss the seeming objectivity of our sensual perception, the consequences of "truth terrorism" and the connections between knowledge and ethics, sight and insight.

Produktdetails

• IFSR International Series in Systems Science and Systems Engineering 17
• Verlag: Springer / Springer US / Springer, Berlin
• Artikelnr. des Verlages: 978-0-306-46752-3
• 2002
• Seitenzahl: 168
• Erscheinungstermin: 24. Juli 2003
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 160mm x 14mm
• Gewicht: 424g
• ISBN-13: 9780306467523
• ISBN-10: 0306467526
• Artikelnr.: 23273106

Inhaltsangabe

Preface. A Foreword in Three Acts. I: Images of Reality. 1. Biology of
Perception. The representation of the world. We never see the same thing. A
short skit. Decision against solipsism. 2. Facets of Truth. Truth means
war. The hidden workings of nature. The ethical imperative. Loss of the
archimedic point. The metaphor of the dance. 3. The Danger of the Label.
Skeptical remarks on Constructivism. An attempt to get around the big
words. 4. Explaining the Explanation. Cause and effect. Laws of people and
laws of nature. Why Socrates had to die. Trivial and nontrivial machines.
The interaction of nontrivial machines. II: Perspectives in Practice. 1.
Teaching. The pupil as a nontrivial machine. "Tests test tests". From
teacher to researcher. Outline of an experiment. 2. Psychotherapy. The
distinction between sickness and health. Generating a new eigenbehavior.
Learning to see white mice. 3. Management. Thus spake the hierarchy.
Thinking heterarchically. The Battle of Midway. Principles of
self-organization. 4. Communication. The world contains no information.
Hermeneutics of the listener. Realities of the media. III: Cybernetics. The
Fundamental Principle: Circularity. People and Machines. The Computer
Metaphor of the Mind. Cybernetics of Cybernetics. We Do not See that We Do
not See. All Cretans Lie. IV: Biographical Excursions. 1. Childhood and
Youth. The world of Vienna. Ludwig Wittgenstein. Experiences of a magician.
2. The Second World War and the Post-war Period. Survival in Berlin, the
capital of the Reich. As "Dr. Heinrich" on the radio. Collective guilt or
individual responsibility. 3. A Jump to another World: America. Theory of
memory. Beginnings of Cybernetics: The Macy Conferences. The Biological
Computer Laboratory. V: Knowledge and Ethics. Ethics is not a Theory.
Decidable and Undecidable Questions. Responsibility for the World. About
the Authors.

Rezensionen

"This book is rich with insights, full of inspiring expression and also filled with wisdom so that you really want to distribute it like a leaflet."
(Book Review German Radio)