title: Ecosystemic epistemology: critical implications for the aesthetics and pragmatics of family therapy.
abstract: 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.
mesh_terms: D001154:Art; D003491:Cybernetics; D004954:Esthetics; D005190:Family; D005192:Family Health; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010684:Philosophy; D012931:Social Environment; D013598:Systems Theory