Le servo-mécanisme et l’amibe. Écologie de l’esprit et égologie de l’esprit chez Bateson et Ruyer

Servomechanism and the amoeba. Ecology of mind and egology of mind in Bateson and Ruyer

The concept of «ecology of mind» famously coined by British anthropologist Gregory Bateson refers to an extended, embedded and extended conception of cybernetical coupling between organisms and the environment. This theoretical view is based on Norbert Wiener’s cybernetics as well as on British psychology. A former student of Bronislaw Malinowski – whose psycho-physiological inquiries where most indebted to Herbert Spencer evolutionism – Bateson had an early interest in the mind-environment coupling issue. While Malinowski failed to give a sound solution to this problem, Bateson turned to cybernetics. This new theoretical approach allowed him to elaborate a new vision of the mind as an embodied although immaterial system. Based on information-controlled behavior, Bateson’s ecology of mind proved instrumental in fostering an extended delineation of the mind. However, Raymond Ruyer’s claim to draw a firm distinction between mind and physiology might jeopardize a major premise of Bateson cybernetical thought: the assumption of a psycho-physiological continuity. For Ruyer, mind is not to be equated with a physiological ecology, therefore it is not extended. In his view, mind implies intention, which cybernetical behavior does not provide.

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