"The schizophrenic has ‘learned’ to ‘live in a universe where the sequences of events are such that his unconventional communication habits will be in some sense appropriate’. His ‘disorder’ is part of a larger system." —Bateson, 1956

Gregory Bateson was a pioneering thinker whose work has left an indelible mark on systemic thinking, communication theory, psychology and anthropology. Born in 1904, Bateson's intellectual lineage was steeped in genetics, and his father, William Bateson, coined the term ‘genetics’. Despite this scientific heritage, Bateson carved a distinct path that challenged the prevailing paradigms of his era. His intellectual journey, which began amid personal tragedy with the death of his brother to suicide in 1922, led to a paradigm shift that shaped a generation of thinkers in multiple disciplines. He blended concepts from anthropology, cybernetics, psychotherapy, and communication theory to create a comprehensive framework for understanding the intricate interplay of systems that shape our lives (Bateson, 1972).

The suicide of Bateson's brother Martin profoundly impacted him, setting him on a quest to understand the complexities of human behaviour. The expectations imposed by his family after Martin's death placed Gregory under immense pressure, but he ultimately used these challenges as a key driver for his intellectual pursuits. Although his parents expected him to pursue zoology, Gregory's fascination with human behaviour led him to anthropology at Cambridge University, where he began developing the holistic and........

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