PurposeConceptual discussion of central viewpoints of Heinz von Foerster including parallels to the thinking of Gregory Bateson. Application to systems theory and social problems.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis and discussion of selected publications of both authors.FindingsCoining the term of “systemics” instead of “second‐order cybernetics”, limits of systemic thinking, flaws in ignoring these limits for example, in the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann.Originality/valueDefinition of “systemic”, parallels between Foerster and Bateson.
Sometimes it takes a while until matters of course become matters of course. The case of Bateson's communication theory is one of these. The following essay attempts to explore two quite different beginnings of communication theory. This will be achieved by comparing the texts of Gregory Bateson and of Paul Watzlawick.
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