Skip to content

Problems of Form
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form Paperback - 1999

by Dirk Baecker (Editor); Michael Irmscher (Translator); Leah Edwards (Translator)


From the rear cover

Sociology has long sought to find out how acting in a situation and observing that situation may differ and nevertheless belong to a single kind of social operation. George Spencer-Brown's Laws of Form (1969) provides one way to conceive of such an operation. The present book is the first to make sociological use of his mathematical calculus of form, which has been extensively applied to cybernetics, systems theory, cognitive science, and mathematics.
Spencer-Brown's theory states that any action or communication is always an operation that makes a distinction. Not only does this operation take place, but it can be observed as indicating what it is interested in, and as leaving unmarked what it is not. Distinctions thereby entail a logic of inclusion and exclusion that is subject to social debate and conflict. In social situations there is no action that does not at the same time execute, maintain, or cross a distinction.
Thus the observer is part of the situation he or she observes. The essays in this volume use this idea to describe different social "forms" as consisting of action observed by further action. A "form" here is understood to be the two sides of a distinction and its dividing line, taken together. All social action, therefore, consists of three values: marked side, unmarked side, and an operation separating the two. If one watches the third value, one ends up observing the observer drawing the distinction--an observer who, of course, may be oneself.
In this collection, more general essays study the consequences of such an understanding of form for our conceptions of literature, paradox, sign, play, and language. Other essays focus on the observations necessary to construct such forms as money, the university, the state, a career, or sickness. All the essays share an interest in problems ensuing from the fact that though one can observe the form of a distinction and become aware of its arbitrary, contingent, and discriminatory nature, one nevertheless, when trying to act or communicate, must choose a distinction. The essays show how social situations deftly veil the arbitrariness of the distinctions that constitute their forms.

Details

  • Title Problems of Form
  • Author Dirk Baecker (Editor); Michael Irmscher (Translator); Leah Edwards (Translator)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st Printing
  • Pages 260
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Stanford University Press, Stanford
  • Date 1999-08-01
  • Features Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780804734240 / 0804734240
  • Weight 0.81 lbs (0.37 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.02 x 6.06 x 0.64 in (22.91 x 15.39 x 1.63 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Logic, Symbolic and mathematical, System theory
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 99021522
  • Dewey Decimal Code 301

About the author

Dirk Baecker is Professor of Sociology and Management at Witten/Herdecke University. He is the author, most recently, of Poker im Osten.
Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

Problems of Form (Writing Science)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form (Writing Science)

by Editor-Dirk Baecker; Translator-Michael Irmscher; Translator-Leah Edwards

  • Used
  • good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
1
Seller
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$12.82
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Stanford University Press, 1999-08-01. Paperback. Good.
Item Price
NZ$12.82
FREE shipping to USA
Problems of Form (Writing Science)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form (Writing Science)

by Dirk Baecker (Editor), Michael Irmscher (Translator), Leah Edwards (Translator)

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used:Good
Edition
1
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
1
Seller
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$12.82
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Stanford University Press, 1999-08-01. 1. Paperback. Used:Good.
Item Price
NZ$12.82
FREE shipping to USA
Problems of Form (Writing Science)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form (Writing Science)

by Baecker, Dirk

  • Used
  • as new
  • Paperback
  • first
Condition
As New
Edition
1st Edition
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
1
Seller
London, London, United Kingdom
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$40.13
NZ$42.24 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Stanford University Press, 1999. 1st Edition . Soft cover. As New. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall.
Item Price
NZ$40.13
NZ$42.24 shipping to USA
Problems of Form (Writing Science)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form (Writing Science)

by Dirk Baecker

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$64.19
NZ$21.12 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Stanford Univ Pr, 1999. Paperback. New. 1st edition. 248 pages. 9.00x6.50x0.50 inches.
Item Price
NZ$64.19
NZ$21.12 shipping to USA
Problems of Form

Problems of Form

by Dirk Baecker

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
10
Seller
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$66.49
NZ$21.02 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Paperback / softback. New. Sociology has long sought to find out how acting in a situation and observing that situation may differ and nevertheless belong to a single kind of social operation. Spencer-Brown's Law of Form provides one way to conceive of such an operation, and this book is the first to make sociological use of this mathematical calculus of form.
Item Price
NZ$66.49
NZ$21.02 shipping to USA
Problems of Form (Writing Science)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Problems of Form (Writing Science)

by Baecker, Dirk [Editor]; Irmscher, Michael [Translator]; Edwards, Leah [Translator];

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780804734240 / 0804734240
Quantity Available
1
Seller
San Diego, California, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
NZ$148.42
NZ$9.17 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Stanford University Press, 1999-08-01. Paperback. New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
Item Price
NZ$148.42
NZ$9.17 shipping to USA