Creativity, pathology, and family structure: a cybernetic metaphor

Area of Science:

• Family Theory
• Cybernetics
• Linguistics

Background:

• Bateson's cybernetic epistemology and Jakobson's linguistic tropes provide foundational concepts.
• Human discourse involves metaphoric (similarity) and metonymic (contiguity) linking operations.
• Individuals function as adaptive systems transforming novelty into expectations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a cybernetic metaphor as a novel paradigm for family theory.
• To link cybernetic epistemology with linguistic tropes for understanding family dynamics.
• To illustrate how individuals learn communicative modes based on contextual structures.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual framework integrating cybernetic epistemology and linguistic theory.
• Analysis of communicative modes (metaphoric and metonymic) in family systems.
• Application of clinical examples and literature review on families of symptomatic and creative individuals.

Main Results:

• Individuals adopt either a metaphoric or metonymic mode to adapt to novelty and maintain context.
• The metaphoric mode is used in dissonant contexts, linking apparent differences.
• The metonymic mode is used in consistent contexts, linking by contiguity within an assumed whole.

Conclusions:

• A cybernetic metaphor offers a new lens for understanding family communication and adaptation.
• The interplay between individual adaptive systems and contextual structures shapes communicative strategies.
• This framework provides insights into the families of both symptomatic and creative individuals.