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Ecosystemic Epistemology: Critical Implications for the Aesthetics and Pragmatics of Family Therapy
Author(s) -
KEENEY BRADFORD P.,
SPRENKLE DOUGLAS H.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1982.00001.x
Subject(s) - pragmatics , cybernetics , epistemology , relation (database) , family therapy , function (biology) , perspective (graphical) , cognitive science , psychology , sociology , philosophy , psychotherapist , linguistics , computer science , artificial intelligence , database , evolutionary biology , biology
This paper proposes that family therapy be responsive to both aesthetic and pragmatic considerations. Ecosystemic epistemology, a framework of ideas based on cybernetics, ecology, and systems theory, is suggested as a way of encompassing these different perspectives. Several critical ideas, often ignored by an overemphasis on pragmatics, involve: (a) the function of language in the relation between epistemology and clinical practice; (b) healthy and pathological family ecologies; (c) art and technique in therapy; and (d) the issue of manipulation.