Cybernetic or Machinic Ecology? Guattari's Parting Ways with Bateson
Julie Van der Wielen (2024), in Environmental Philosophy vol. 21 issue 1, pp. 61-89.
Abstract: In this article, I examine the relation between Bateson and Guattari’s ecological thoughts: two thinkers whose ecological ideas at first sight have a lot in common. In order to show the difference between the thoughts of both thinkers, I will take my clue from Guattari’s remark that he parts ways with Bateson on the role of context. Explaining the role of context in both authors will allow me to show how Guattari’s thought implies both an endorsement and a critique of cybernetics, and, specifically, promoting a machinic rather than cybernetic ecology. I conclude by indicating what is at stake in this distinction.
About the journal: Environmental Philosophy publishes innovative research relevant to all areas of environmental philosophy, including ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, theology, politics, ecofeminism, environmental justice, philosophy of technology, and ecophenomenology.
Environmental Philosophy is the official journal of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP), founded in 1997 to provide a forum for wide-ranging philosophical discussion of nature and the human relation to the natural environment.
The journal is published by the Philosophy Documentation Center on behalf of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy.