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Recasting the Theory of Systemic Family Therapy: Reading Bateson Through Foucault and Deleuze

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Recasting the Theory of Systemic Family Therapy: Reading Bateson Through Foucault and Deleuze Recasting the Theory of Systemic Family Therapy: Reading Bateson Through Foucault and Deleuze Maria E. Nichterlein A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social Sciences Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences December 2013 2 Originality Statement ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed Date 10.12.2013 3 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed Date 10.12.2013 AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed Date 10.12.2013 4 Table of Contents Recasting the Theory of Systemic Family Therapy: ......................................................... 1 Originality Statement ....................................................................................................... 3 Preamble .......................................................................................................................... 13 Part I ................................................................................................................................ 21 Chapter 1 – Positioning Bateson within family therapy history: A double irony ......... 23 1.1 Reading (family therapy) history .......................................................................... 26 1.2 Bateson and the Mental Research Institute (MRI) ................................................ 28 1.3 A double irony ...................................................................................................... 31 1.3.1 ‘Every schoolboy knows’... then .................................................................... 33 1.3.2 ‘Every schoolboy knows’... now .................................................................... 36 1.3.3 A double description ...................................................................................... 37 Chapter 2 – (Mis)Reading Bateson and the rise of the cybernetic metaphor ................ 39 2.1 Bateson: The legacy of a scientist? ....................................................................... 41 2.1.1 Running in the family .................................................................................... 44 2.1.2 Naven: A relational taxonomy and the epistemological problem .................. 47 2.2 The mechanization of the mind: The emergence of cybernetics........................... 49 2.2.1 Studies in schizophrenia ................................................................................. 52 2.3 The desire to govern: Game theory and strategic thinking ................................... 56 2.3.1 von Neumann and game theory...................................................................... 57 2.3.2 Haley’s connection with Erickson: A fine tradition for MRI ........................ 59 2.3.3 Haley and Minuchin: Nuanced articulations in Philadelphia ......................... 61 5 2.3.4 Leaving the field ............................................................................................ 63 2.4 A sacred holism: Articulations of an ecology of mind ......................................... 65 Chapter 3 – Governing whom? Second order (and the fall?) of the cybernetic metaphor ......................................................................................................................................... 73 3.1 Pragmatics or Aesthetics? The Ecosystemic call .................................................. 75 3.2 The emergence of second order cybernetics: Recursion within systems .............. 77 3.2.1 Heinz von Foerster and his (invisible?) role in cybernetics ........................... 79 3.2.2 A productive alliance: Heinz von Foerster’s connection with the MRI ........ 82 3.3 The (Post) Milan Group: A (quiet) revolution? .................................................... 84 3.3.1 Setting the scene: The emergence and consolidation of a model .................. 85 3.3.2 A further split and the emergence of Post-Milan ........................................... 87 3.4 The story that struggles to be told: Science, Maturana and the sacredness of life 88 3.5 The “fall” of cybernetics and its troubled translation into family therapy ............ 99 Chapter 4 – The rupture with Bateson: The surprising appearance of social constructionism ............................................................................................................. 101 4.1 Change is in the air: The fall of the wall and the “end of history” ..................... 102 4.1.1 The change of status of knowledge .............................................................. 104 4.2 An art of lenses… indeed .................................................................................... 106 4.2.1 The rise (and rise?) of the collaborative approach in family therapy .......... 109 4.2.2 Furthering (un)critical dispersals: On the limits of the definition of social constructionism or when do ‘faulty lenses’ become ‘dirty lenses’? ..................... 113 4.2.3 The ‘end of history’ or the end of (critical) theory? .................................... 115 6 4.3 (Re)Turning to Bateson… are we on the limits of knowledge or have we lost sight of Bateson’s project? ................................................................................................. 117 4.3.1 A troubling interpretation: (a) humanizing (mis)reading of Bateson ........... 119 4.3.2 Constructivism or social constructionism? Is there a difference that makes the difference? 122 4.3.3 (Re)Engaging with Bateson ......................................................................... 123 4.4 Rejoinder at the limits of (post)modernism ........................................................ 125 Part II ............................................................................................................................. 129 Chapter 5 – (Re)Reading Bateson: In search of a poststructural ecology of ideas ..... 131 5.1 The untimely task of science: (Scientific) knowledge as a veil .......................... 134 5.2 A theory of action: The moral and aesthetic dimension ..................................... 136 5.3 A materially post-structural reading of Bateson: The body (and the world) in systemic theory and in therapy .................................................................................. 139 5.3.1 Towards an archaeology of Bateson’s thought ............................................ 141 5.3.2 A positive proposal: Plateaus and becomings. ............................................. 143 Chapter 6 – Foucault: Power/knowledge and the care of the self ............................... 145 6.1 Did it all start with ‘the laughter’? ...................................................................... 148 6.2 Three referential axes .......................................................................................... 150 6.2.1. The subject and subjectivity: Problematization of the phenomenological subject 152 6.2.2. Regimes of Truth: Problematizations of scientific truth ............................. 153 6.2.3. Power: Problematizations of notions of super-structures that determine behaviours 154 7 6.3 A (brief) history of Foucault’s thought ............................................................... 156 6.3.1. A pre-Foucaultian Foucault ........................................................................ 156 6.3.2. Knowledge formations ................................................................................ 158 6.3.3. Discursive practices: Power and governmentality ...................................... 160 6.3.4. Technologies of the self .............................................................................. 164 6.4 Positioning Foucault: Critique as transformation and practices of freedom ....... 165 6.4.1 Thought as critical tool ...............................................................................
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