Anthony Wilden
Encyclopedia
Anthony Wilden is a writer, social theorist, college lecturer, and consultant. Wilden has published numerous books and articles which intersect a number of fields, including systems theory
, film theory
, structuralism
, cybernetics
, psychiatry
, anthropological theory, water control projects, urban ecosystems, resource conservation, and communications and social relations.
Wilden is credited with one of the first significant introductions to the work of Jacques Lacan
in the Anglo-Saxon world, particularly in his role as one of Lacan's early English translators. Today and into the 21st century Wilden's work (and consequent reputation) is arguably more influential in the fields of communication theory, ecology
and social interaction. These fields of study evolved out of a long scholarly tradition of "interactional semiotics" that originated with Plato's Cratylus
. Along with such figures as Gregory Bateson
(ie., Steps to an Ecology of Mind
), R. D. Laing (ie., Sanity, Madness and the Family), and Walker Percy
(ie., Lost in the Cosmos
), Wilden is considered one of this tradition's contemporary (modern and postmodern) pioneers.
With the appearance of System and Structure (1972), Wilden sought "to establish the necessity of an ecosystemic or ecological approach to communication and exchange in open systems of all types", to use his own words. In hindsight it is recognized that System and Structure was an early contribution to a "theory of self-refential systems". According to Niklas Luhmann
, this "theory of self-referential systems" is the second paradigm
change in a "General System Theory" (the first change being the "open-systems" or "systems/environment" shift, a step that initially separated "systems theory" from the traditional "whole-parts" paradigm). Through his teaching and writings, Wilden has provided "a contribution to our 'knowledge about knowledge' at an abstract level, as well as supplying ammunition in the struggle with the concrete reality that information is power and that scientific discourse is a hidden weapon in the arsenal of social control." Wilden is also recognized today for his significant contributions to Context theory
and Second-order cybernetics
.
Wilden was a professor in the Communications Department at Simon Fraser University
from the 1970s to the mid 1990s. He has attended the University of Victoria
, Victoria, British Columbia, 1960–61, 1963–65; and Johns Hopkins University
, earning his Ph.D.
in 1968.
Excerpts from Man and Women, War and Peace
Other responses to Wilden
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
, film theory
Film theory
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large...
, structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
, cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
, psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, anthropological theory, water control projects, urban ecosystems, resource conservation, and communications and social relations.
Wilden is credited with one of the first significant introductions to the work of Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
in the Anglo-Saxon world, particularly in his role as one of Lacan's early English translators. Today and into the 21st century Wilden's work (and consequent reputation) is arguably more influential in the fields of communication theory, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and social interaction. These fields of study evolved out of a long scholarly tradition of "interactional semiotics" that originated with Plato's Cratylus
Cratylus
Cratylus was an ancient Athenian philosopher from late 5th century BC, mostly known through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue Cratylus. Little is known of Cratylus or his mentor Heraclitus . According to Cratylus at 402a, Heraclitus proclaimed that one cannot step twice into the same stream...
. Along with such figures as Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
(ie., Steps to an Ecology of Mind
Steps to an Ecology of Mind
Steps to an Ecology of Mind is a collection of Gregory Bateson's short works over his long and varied career. Subject matter includes essays on anthropology, cybernetics, psychiatry and epistemology. It was originally published by Chandler Publishing Company in 1972...
), R. D. Laing (ie., Sanity, Madness and the Family), and Walker Percy
Walker Percy
Walker Percy was an American Southern author whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is best known for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, the first of which, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1962...
(ie., Lost in the Cosmos
Lost in the Cosmos
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book is a mock self-help book and social satire on the American value of autonomy by Walker Percy. It was published in 1983 by Farrar Straus & Giroux....
), Wilden is considered one of this tradition's contemporary (modern and postmodern) pioneers.
With the appearance of System and Structure (1972), Wilden sought "to establish the necessity of an ecosystemic or ecological approach to communication and exchange in open systems of all types", to use his own words. In hindsight it is recognized that System and Structure was an early contribution to a "theory of self-refential systems". According to Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in sociological systems theory.-Biography:...
, this "theory of self-referential systems" is the second paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
change in a "General System Theory" (the first change being the "open-systems" or "systems/environment" shift, a step that initially separated "systems theory" from the traditional "whole-parts" paradigm). Through his teaching and writings, Wilden has provided "a contribution to our 'knowledge about knowledge' at an abstract level, as well as supplying ammunition in the struggle with the concrete reality that information is power and that scientific discourse is a hidden weapon in the arsenal of social control." Wilden is also recognized today for his significant contributions to Context theory
Context theory
Context theory is the theory of how environmental design and planning of new development should relate to its context. When decisions have been taken they are implemented by means of Land Use Plans, Zoning Plans and Environmental Assessments...
and Second-order cybernetics
Second-order cybernetics
Second-order cybernetics, also known as the cybernetics of cybernetics, investigates the construction of models of cybernetic systems. It investigates cybernetics with awareness that the investigators are part of the system, and of the importance of self-referentiality, self-organizing, the...
.
Wilden was a professor in the Communications Department at Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
from the 1970s to the mid 1990s. He has attended the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
, Victoria, British Columbia, 1960–61, 1963–65; and Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, earning his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1968.
Selected writings and publications
note: the primary source for this section is from the Wilden article in Gale's Biography series.- (With Jacques LacanJacques LacanJacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
) The Language of the Self, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968, revised edition, 1976; reprinted as Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis, 1981. - System and Structure: Essays in Communication and Exchange, 1st and 2nd ed., Tavistock Publications, 1972 and 1980, French translation, Boreal Express, Montreal, 1983.
- (Contributor) D. E. Washburn and D. R. Smith, editors, Coping with Increasing Complexity, Gordon & Breach, 1974.
- (Contributor) K. Riegel, editor, Structure and Transformation, Wiley, 1975.
- (Contributor with Tim Wilson) Carlos Sluzki and Donald Ransom, editors, Double Bind: The Foundation of the Communicational Approach to the Family, Grune & Stratton, 1976.
- "Le Canada imaginaire" French translation of "The imaginary Canadian" by Yvan Simonis ; foreword by sociologigist Marcel Rioux., Presses Coméditex, Québec, QC, 1979.
- "The imaginary Canadian", Pulp Press, Vancouver, BC,1980.
- (Contributor) M. Maruyama and A. Harkins, editors, Cultures of the Future, Mouton, 1980.
- (Contributor) Kathleen Woodward, editor, The Myths of Information: Technology and Post-Industrial Culture, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.
- (With R. Hammer) Busby BerkeleyBusby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
and the Mechanical Bride: From "Flying Down to Rio" to "The Lullaby of Broadway" 1933-35 (videotape montage), Simon Fraser University, 1984. - (Contributor) Paul Bouissac, Michael Herzfeld, and Roland Posner, editors, Iconicity: Festschrift for Thomas A. Sebeok, Stauffenberg Verlag, 1986.
- The Rules Are No Game: The Strategy of Communication, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
- Man and Woman, War and Peace: The Strategist's Companion, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986.
- (Contributor) K. Krippendorff, editor, Communication and Control in Society, Gordon & Breach, 1979.
Further reading
- Anton, Corey. Selfhood and Authenticity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-7914-4899-1
- Carrington, Victoria. New Times: New Families. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002; paperback reprint, 2009.
- Sluzki, Carlos and Ransom, Donald; editors. Double Bind: The Foundation of the Communicational Approach to the Family. Grune & Stratton, 1976.
External links
Excerpts from System and Structure- The Symbolic, the Imaginary and the Real: Lacan, Lévi-Strauss and Freud
- The Ideology of Opposition and Identity: Critique of Lacan's Theory of the Mirror-stage in Childhood
Excerpts from Man and Women, War and Peace
- The Strategic Envelope available in PDF format
Other responses to Wilden
- Gregory Bateson-Ecology of Ideas-Anthony Wilden
- A Structure/System relationship in examining components of Digital Literacy, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 The author of this essay describes it as a "discussion of some axioms of structure and system as proposed by Anthony Wilden, relating to Digital Literacy assessment, and ISD (Instructional Systems Development)."