Bjørn Thomassen participated in the major international conference on “Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization”, organized and hosted by the Danish Centre for Philosophy and Science Studies, the working group on Psychiatry & Society, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Organization, Aalborg University, Denmark, and the School of Sociology & Philosophy, UCC, Ireland.
Bjørn Thomassen was convenor of one of the thematic sessions called “Schismogenesis”, and presented his paper entitled:
Schismogenesis and schismogenetic processes: Gregory Bateson reconsidered
- with a special view to the political dimensions of schismogenesis
In this paper Professor Thomassen argued that the concept of schismogenesis, introduced by Gregory Bateson in the 1930s, is indeed a useful concept that uniquely relates to both social and personal pathologies. In his paper Professor Thomassen introduced Bateson’s notion of schismogenesis and situated it with respect to Bateson’s work and the larger context in which he developed this concept. The paper also discussed the extent to which the contemporary scene is characterized by a series of schismogenetic processes, at the intellectual, political and personality levels. The paper also indicated ways in which schismogenesis can be overcome, and related this discussion to Bateson’s ‘relational epistemology’ of mind and nature.
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