The cyberneticists rediscovered circularity, self-reference or self-relation
It was Heinz von Foerster who showed me the meaning of circularity and guided me out of the dilemma of linearity - I dare say a dilemma that follows many of us. The discovery of circularity, self-reference or self-relation that exceeds the simple feedback of a thermostat or a heater by far was the life work of Heinz von Foerster.
“If we ask about the nature of life, we are already living. Or to put it in other words: Only living creatures are capable of this. Whoever studies language does so with language. And if we want to know what a question is, like Wittgenstein, we should at least be able to ask a question in the first place”.
A plea against objectivity
The profound insight that drives cyberneticists is, that you need a brain yourself to write a theory on the brain.
Cybernetics drag the observer into science. The principle of objectivity states that the nature of the observing person must not influence the descriptions he or she is making. But if you follow this rule, then according to Heinz von Foerster nothing is left over, neither the observation nor the description.
