Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology

Chapter 1 of Part 3 starts by examining Margaret Mead’s proposal that social planning should prioritize present values embedded in actions over achieving predefined goals. Bateson discusses the implications of this paradigm shift, which challenges the conventional dichotomy of means and ends in science, politics, and culture. Mead warns that an approach focused on goals risks reducing people to tools, fostering a totalitarian ethos contrary to individual moral autonomy.

Bateson connects Mead’s ideas to the anthropological and psychological concept of deutero-learning, or “learning to learn” (166). He distinguishes between two learning processes: proto-learning, which involves acquiring specific behaviors or skills, and deutero-learning, which refers to developing broader habits of interpreting and organizing experiences. Bateson suggests that social manipulation and educational practices inevitably instill unintended habits.

Drawing from psychological experiments and cross-cultural studies, Bateson contrasts Western instrumental thinking with other cultural patterns, such as the Pavlovian orientation of the Trobriand Islanders or the rote-driven, avoidance-based culture of the Balinese. He argues that these cultural frameworks reflect different ways of punctuating experience, each with unique implications for behavior and social organization.

Bateson concludes that adopting Mead’s approach would entail fostering an attitude of hope and ongoing engagement.