When is an aggregate a mind?
 

Bateson creates a list of criteria
if any system satisfies all the criteria, Bateson "shall say unhesitatingly that the aggregate is a mind"
 
"This list is the cornerstone of the whole book" (97)
 
"1. A mind is an aggregate of interacting parts or components.
2. The interaction between parts of mind is triggered by difference [...]
3. Mental process requires collateral energy.
4. Mental process requires circular (or more complex) chains of determination.
5. In mental process, the events of difference are to be regarded as transforms (i.e., coded versions) of events which preceded them [...]
6. The description and classification of these processes of transformation disclose a hierarchy of logical types immanent in the phenomena" (97-8)
 
Is this useful? How so?
 
these criteria can "differentiate the phemonena of thought from the much simpler phenomena called material events"
 
elaborated on for a chapter

> from Gregory Bateson's Mind and Nature (1979)

> tagged with #mind, #systems

> created Feb 23, 2025 at 8:19:14 AM


> part of unfinished everything


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unfinished everything is an original work / ongoing project (1997-present) by jeremy p. bushnell

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