Constructing a Social Science for Postwar America: The Cybernetics Group, 1946-1953

Description

In this sequel to his acclaimed double biography, John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, Steve Heims recounts another fascinating story in twentieth-century intellectual history - a series of encounters that captured a moment of transformation in the human sciences. Focusing on the Macy Foundation conferences, which were designed to forge connections between wartime science and postwar social science, Heims's richly detailed account explores the dialogues that emerged among a remarkable group that included Wiener, von Neumann, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Warren McCulloch, Kurt Lewin, Molly Harrower, and Lawrence Kubie. Heims shows how those dialogues shaped ideas in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and psychiatry. Preface Vl Acknowledgments Xl 1 Midcentury, U.S.A. 1 2 March 8-9, 1946 14 3 Describing "Embodiments of Mind": McCulloch and His Cohorts 31 4 Raindancer, Scout, and Talking Chief 52 5 Logic Clarifying and Logic Obscuring 90 6 Problems ofDeranged Minds, Artists, and psychiatrists 115 7 The Macy Foundation and Worldwide Mental Health 8 Lazarsfeld, Lewin, and Political Conditions 180 9 Gestalten Go to Bits, 1: From Lewin to Bavelas 201 10 Gestalten Go to Bits, 2: Kohler's Visit 224 11 Metaphor and Synthesis 248 12 Then and Now 273 Appendix Members ofthe Cybernetics Group 285 Notes 287 Index 327