“Black Box” Theatre: Second-Order Cybernetics and Naturalism in Rehearsal and Performance

Scholte, Tom

doi:10.1142/9789813226265_0044

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…SOC has been shown to be a useful approach in several disciplines, including psychotherapy (Bateson, 2000; Keeney, 1980), education (Baron and Herr, 2018; Herr, 2014), design research (Sweeting, 2016) and more recently, in the arts where theatre has been used as a laboratory for experimenting with SOC (Scholte, 2016). Recently, there have been several publications that are geared towards cybernetics methodology as an approach, aptly termed second-order science (Müller, 2008, 2011; Riegler and Müller, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Owning one’s epistemology in religious studies research methodology

Baron

2019

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Purpose There is a lack of epistemological considerations in religious studies methodologies, which have resulted in an on-going critique in this field. In addressing this critique, the researcher’s observer effect needs to be actively accounted for owing to the influence of the researcher’s epistemology in the author’s research. This paper aims to answer the question of why a researcher should address one’s epistemology in the research. Design/methodology/approach Using second-order cybernetics as an approach, observer dependence is exemplified and justified in the context of religious studies research methodology. The research activity is shown as a relational temporal coupling that introduces inter-subjective aspects to the research. The research process is analysed showing the need to provide scope for the researcher’s epistemology in one’s research. Findings A relational observer-dependent approach to research embraces the epistemology of the researcher and the participants providing equality in the relationship. The research results are thus framed according to the nature of the relationship and are thus not detached. This addresses social justice and reduces troubling truth claims. Research limitations/implications This first paper focuses on the question of why epistemology should be included in scholarly research. A detailed framework for how scholars may achieve this goal is to be part of the future study and is not presented in this paper. Practical implications In many positivist approaches there is a motivation to hide the researcher; however, recently there has been a move towards including authors in the first person, realising that science is tied to politics, which does not reach its ideals of objectivity. Cybernetics is presented as an approach to addressing the move from “objective” to “subjective” research. Social implications Researchers cannot get into the minds of their participants and thus an authorial privileged presentation by the researcher of the participant’s experiences is fraught with epistemological weaknesses. Attempting to own one’s own epistemology could address social justice in research by personalising the research and accounting for the observer effect and the inter-subjective attributes of the research relationship. Originality/value The principle of observer dependence in cybernetics is not new; however, a research approach that focuses on the nature of knowing and how this may influence one’s research in religious studies is uncommon. It is thus presented here as a viable option to address the critique of epistemologically weak research methodology in religious studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Owning one’s epistemology in religious studies research methodology

Baron

2019

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“…I use "first/second" as a general and conceptual pattern for comparing formulations, which can be understood as instances or interpretations of the general pattern. In these terms, following the general pattern first/second, Foerster's first-order observed system and second-2 See also Tom Scholte's (2016) analysis of reentry among performers of naturalistic theatre.…”

Section: First/second Complementaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Recursively Contextual Identity: A Variant Formulation of First- and Second-Order

Silverman

2023

Enacting Cybernetics

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The core cybernetics concept of first-and second-order has been interpreted in various ways, including as the cybernetics of cybernetics, as systems observed and observing, as epistemic and ethical modes, and as historical phases. In this paper, I describe an approach in which first-order systems are distinguished as contexts and second-order systems are distinguished by the self-reflective awareness of contextual participants. Seeking to analyze firstand second-order as a relational unity, I adopt Francisco Varela's notation for complementarities, specifying their dialectics in the format: first/second. I use a performative exercise to constrain and enable the development of a variant formulation and then compare this variant with textual ones by Heinz von Foerster and Gordon Pask and with visual depictions by Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead and by Ray Ison. Interpretively, first/second approaches that I examine might be distinguished in several respects, including by their relational domains and associated modes (observers of objects versus organisms in contexts), diagrammatics (1-in-2 versus 2-in-1), and challenges of a second-order stance (e.g., resisting objectification versus maintaining awareness of one's coupled, transcontextual, and situated relations). This enquiry emphasizes an object-context distinction while also imbricating or making a complementarity of the first/second distinction, such that both modes-observers of objects and organisms in contexts-are discussed in terms of self-reference.

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“…His early essays drew from Konstantin Stanislavski’s work, and understood relationships between external and internal planes of the actor, rooting them in social actions (Sobkin, 2016). Tom Scholte (2016), a contemporary actor and cybernetician who employs Pask’s theories, suggests Stanislavski’s naturalist system is inherently cybernetic, allowing performers to embrace their experiences in the present moment and adhere to a script. Scholte calls for reincorporation of spontaneous affect and experience leading to the emergence of “genuine” behaviors under imaginary circumstances, further amplified by peer feedback during rehearsals; actors become observers constantly reconstructing semiotic sequences of performance.…”

Section: Integrating Pask and Vygotskymentioning

confidence: 99%

Gordon Pask’s second-order cybernetics and Lev Vygotsky’s cultural historical theory: Understanding the role of the internet in developing human thinking

Tilak

Glassman

2022

Theory & Psychology

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This three-part article reinforces crosscurrents between cybernetician Gordon Pask’s work towards creating responsive machines applied to theater and education, and Vygotsky’s theory, to advance sociohistorical approaches into the internet age. We first outline Pask’s discovery of possibilities of a neoclassical cybernetic framework for human–human, human–machine, and machine–machine conversations. Second, we outline conversation theory as an elaboration of the reconstruction of mental models/concepts by observers through reliance on sociocultural psychological approaches, and apply concepts like the zone of proximal development and perezhivanie to Paskian aesthetic technologies. Third, we interpret Pask’s teaching/learning devices as zones of proximal development, and outline how Paskian algorithms in digital devices like THOUGHTSTICKER have been generalized on today’s internet, supplemented by corporate interests. We conclude that Paskian theory may offer understandings of the roles of internet technologies in transforming human thinking, and suggest (re)designing tools incorporating algorithms that contextually advance conceptual understanding that deviates from current indexing approaches.

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“Black Box” Theatre: Second-Order Cybernetics and Naturalism in Rehearsal and Performance

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Owning one’s epistemology in religious studies research methodology

Owning one’s epistemology in religious studies research methodology

Recursively Contextual Identity: A Variant Formulation of First- and Second-Order

Gordon Pask’s second-order cybernetics and Lev Vygotsky’s cultural historical theory: Understanding the role of the internet in developing human thinking

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