Heinz von Foerster

Heinz von Foerster (13 November 1911, Vienna – 2 October 2002, Pescadero, California) was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of Second-order cybernetics. He was twice a Guggenheim fellow (1956-1957 and 1963-1964) and also was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1980.

Publications

• co-editor, Cybernetics: Transactions of the Seventh Conference, New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1950.
• co-editor, Cybernetics: Transactions of the Eighth Conference, New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1952.
• co-editor, Cybernetics: Transactions of the Ninth Conference, New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1953.
• co-editor, Cybernetics: Transactions of the Tenth Conference, New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1955.

• co-editor, Purposive Systems: Proceedings of the First Annual Symposium of the American Society for Cybernetics, New York, NY: Spartan Books, 1968

• editor, Cybernetics of Cybernetics, or, the Control of Control and the Communication of Communication (BCL Report 73.38), Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, 1974; 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Future Systems, 1995, 497 pp. A collection of papers by distinguished cyberneticians with graphic commentaries and original texts and definitions composed by students in von Foerster’s “Cybernetics of Cybernetics” seminar.

• Observing Systems, intro. Francisco J. Varela, Seaside, CA: Intersystems, 1981, xvi+331 pp; 2nd ed, 1984, xviii+331 pp.
  • Sistemi che osservano, eds. Mauro Ceruti and Umberta Telfner, trans. Bernardo Draghi, Rome: Astrolabio, 1987, 243 pp. (Italian)

• Sicht und Einsicht: Versuche zu einer operativen Erkenntnistheorie, trans. Wolfram K. Köck, Braunschweig: Vieweg+Teubner, 1985, xi+236 pp. [1] (German)

• Las semillas de la cibernética, ed. & trans. Marcelo Pakman, intro. Carlos Sluzki, Barcelona: Gedisa, 1991, 221 pp. (Spanish)

• Sistemica elemental: desde un punto de vista superior, Medellín: Fondo Editorial Universitario EAFIT, 1998, 81 pp. (Spanish)

• with Heinz von Glasersfeld, Wie wir uns erfinden: eine Autobiographie des radikalen Konstruktivismus, Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Systeme, 1999. (German)
  • Come ci si inventa: storie, buone ragioni ed entusiasmi di due responsabili dell'eresia costruttivista, Rome: Odradek, 2001, xx+195 pp. (Italian)

• Understanding Understanding: Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition, New York: Springer, 2003, 362 pp. Incl. "Objects: Tokens for (Eigen-)Behaviors", pp 261-271.

• The Beginning of Heaven and Earth Has No Name: Seven Days With Second-Order Cybernetics, eds. Albert Mueller and Karl H. Mueller, trans. Elinor Rooks and Michael Kasenbacher, New York: Fordham University, 2013.

• Bibliography

Interviews

• Peter Bexte, "Warum sind Computer musikalisch, Herr von Foerster?", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 Dec 1988. (German)

• with Bernhard Pörksen, Wahrheit ist die Erfindung eines Lügners: Gespräche für Skeptiker, Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-System, 1998, 166 pp. (German)
  • La verità è l'invenzione di un bugiardo: colloqui per scettici, Rome: Meltemi, 2001, 162 pp. (Italian)
  • Understanding Systems: Conversations on Epistemology and Ethics, trans. Karen Leube, New York: Kluwer, 2002, 161 pp.
  • Sandhed - opfundet af en løgner: samtaler for skeptikere, trans. Christine Sonne Carstensen, Værløse: Billesø & Baltzer, 2003, 136 pp. (Danish)
  • 진리는 거짓말쟁이의 발명품이다: 회의론자들을 위한 대담, 2009, 264 pp. (Korean)
  • Pravda je vynález lhářů: rozhovory skeptiků, trans. Zdeněk Dan, Prague: Pragma, 2016, 186 pp. (Czech)

Literature

• Bernard Scott, "Heinz von Foerster An Appreciation (Revisited)" [1979], Cybernetics And Human Knowing 10:3-4, 2003, pp 137-149.
• Das Auge des Betrachters: Beiträge zum Konstruktivismus. Festschrift für Heinz von Foerster, eds. Paul Watzlawick and Peter Krieg, Munich: Piper, 1991, 278 pp; repr., Heidelberg: Carl-Auer-Systeme, 2002, 278 pp. (German)
  • El ojo del observador contribuciones al constructivismo: homenaje a Heinz von Foerster, trans. Cristóbal Piechocki, Barcelona: Gedisa, 1994, 261 pp. (Spanish)
• Ranulph Glanville, "Heinz von Foerster: The Form and the Content", Systems Research, 13:3, Sep 1996, pp 271-278. [2]
• Gordon Pask, "Heinz von Foerster's Self-Organisation, the Progenitor of Conversation and Interaction Theories", Systems Research 13:3, Sep 1996, pp 349-362. Pask's last paper, on his work together with von Foerster and their account of the history of cybernetics.
• Evelyne Andreewsky, Robert Delorme (eds.), Seconde cybernétique et complexité: rencontres avec Heinz von Foerster, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2006. (French)
• Bruce Clarke, "From Information to Cognition: The Systems Counterculture, Heinz von Foerster’s Pedagogy, and Second-Order Cybernetics", Constructivist Foundations 7:3, 2012, pp 196-207.

Links

• Heinz von Foerster-Archiv, U Wien
• http://www.t-h-e-n-e-t.com/html/_film/pers/_pers_foerster.htm
• Wikipedia
• Tribute: Ranulph Glanville (Systems Research and Behavioral Science).