Second-order cybernetics, also known as the cybernetics of cybernetics, is the recursive application of cybernetics to itself and the reflexive practice of cybernetics according to such a critique. It is cybernetics where "the role of the observer is appreciated and acknowledged rather than disguised, as had become traditional in western science".Glanville, R. (2002). "Second order cybernetics." In F. Parra-Luna (ed.), Systems science and cybernetics. In Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). Oxford: EoLSS. Second-order cybernetics was developed between the late 1960s and mid 1970s by Heinz von Foerster and others, with key inspiration coming from Margaret Mead. Foerster referred to it as "the control of control and the communication of communication" and differentiated first-order cybernetics as "the cybernetics of observed systems" and second-order cybernetics as "the cybernetics of observing systems".Foerster, Heinz von, ed. Cybernetics of Cybernetics: Or, the Control of Control and the Communication of Communication. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Future Systems, 1995.
The concept of second-order cybernetics is closely allied to radical constructivism, which was developed around the same time by Ernst von Glasersfeld.Glanville, R. (2013). "Radical constructivism = second order cybernetics". Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 19(4), 27–42. While it is sometimes considered a break from the earlier concerns of cybernetics, there is much continuity with previous work and it can be thought of as a distinct tradition within cybernetics, with origins in issues evident during the Macy conferences in which cybernetics was initially developed.Umpleby, Stuart, and Eric Dent. "The Origins and Purposes of Several Traditions in Systems Theory and Cybernetics." Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal 30, no. 2 (1999): 79–103. Umpleby, S. (2008). "A brief history of cybernetics in the United States." Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften [Austrian Journal for History Science] 19/4, 2008, pp. 28–40. Brand, S., Bateson, G., & Mead, M. (1976). "For God's Sake, Margaret: Conversation with Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead". CoEvolutionary Quarterly, 10, 32–44. Its concerns include autonomy, epistemology, ethics, language, reflexivity, self-consistency, self-referentiality, and self-organizing capabilities of complex systems, such as in complexity theory (extenuating to the field of complexity economics). It has been characterised as cybernetics where "circularity is taken seriously".Glanville, R. (2004). "The purpose of second-order cybernetics." Kybernetes, 33(9/10), 1379–1386.
Overview Terminology Second-order cybernetics can be abbreviated as C2, C2, or SOC, and is sometimes referred to as the cybernetics of cybernetics,Foerster, H. von (1979). "Cybernetics of cybernetics". In K. Krippendorff, ed., Communication and Control in Society, New York: Gordon and Breach, pp. 5-8. or, more rarely, the new cybernetics,In 1981 the title of the ASC conference was "The New Cybernetics", Oct. 29 – Nov. 1, GWU, Washington, DC (chair Larry Richards, local arrangements Stuart Umpleby).Jean-Pierre Dupuy, "The autonomy of social reality: on the contribution of systems theory to the theory of society" in: Elias L. Khalil & Kenneth E. Boulding eds., Evolution, Order and Complexity, 1986.Gordon Pask. Introduction Different Kinds of Cybernetics. In Gertrudis van de Vijver (ed) New Perspectives on Cybernetics. Springer Netherlands. pp. 11–31.F. Heylighen, E. Rosseel & F. Demeyere (eds.) (1990), Self-steering and Cognition in Complex Systems: Toward a New Cybernetics, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, New York.Laurent Dobuzinskis (1987), The New Cybernetics and the Science of Politics an Epistemological Analysis, Westview Press. or second cybernetics.Lombardi J. (2015) Cybernetics, conversation and consensus: Designing academic conferences. Constructivist Foundations 11(1): 79–81. http://constructivist.info/11/1/079
These terms are often used interchangeably, but can also stress different aspects: Most specifically, and especially where phrased as the cybernetics of cybernetics, second-order cybernetics is the recursive application of cybernetics to itself. This is closely associated with Mead's 1967 address to the American Society for Cybernetics (published 1968) and Foerster's "Cybernetics of Cybernetics" book, developed as a course option at the Biological Computer Laboratory (BCL), where cybernetic texts were analysed according to the principles they put forward. In this sense, second-order cybernetics can be considered the "conscience" of cybernetics, attending to the subject's consistency and clarity. More generally, second-order cybernetics is the reflexive practice of cybernetics, where cyberneticians understand themselves and other participants to be part of the systems they study and act in, taking a second-order position whether or not it is termed as such. When cybernetics is practiced in this way, second-order cybernetics and cybernetics may be used interchangeably, with the qualifier 'second-order' being used when drawing distinctions from (or critiquing) other approaches (e.g. differentiating from purely technological applications) or as a way of emphasising reflexivity.Larry Richards. "Guest Column: The Relevance of Cybernetics in the 21st Century." Cybernetics and Human Knowing, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 91–103. Additionally, and especially where referred to as the new cybernetics, second-order cybernetics may refer to substantial developments in direction and scope taken by cybernetics from the 1970s onward, with greater focus on social and philosophical concerns.
Initial development
Second-order cybernetics took shape during the late 1960s and mid 1970s. The 1967 keynote address to the inaugural meeting of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) by Margaret Mead, who had been a participant at the Macy Conferences, is a defining moment in its development. Mead characterised "cybernetics as a way of looking at things and as a language for expressing what one sees", calling on cyberneticians to assume responsibility for the social consequences of the language of cybernetics and the development of cybernetic systems.Krippendorff, Klaus. (2008). "Cybernetics's Reflexive Turns". Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 15 (3–4), 173–184. Mead's paper concluded with a proposal directed at the ASC itself, drawing on an earlier suggestion to the Society for General Systems Research (now the International Society for the Systems Sciences],Ben Sweeting, "Planning Organizations in Relation to Their Purposes," Proceedings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, 69, no. 1 (2025). https://journals.isss.org/index.php/jisss/issue/view/27 [Wilby J., Makar J. & Smith G. (eds.). The 69th Annual Proceedings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences] that it organise itself in the light of the ideas with which it was concerned. That is, the practice of cybernetics by the ASC should be subject to cybernetic critique, an idea returned to by Ranulph Glanville in his time as president of the society.Glanville, Ranulph. "Introduction: A Conference Doing the Cybernetics of Cybernetics." Kybernetes 40, no. 7/8 (2011): 952–963.Glanville, Ranulph, ed. Trojan Horses: A Rattle Bag from the 'Cybernetics: Art, Design, Mathematic – a Meta-Disciplinary Conversation' Post-Conference Workshop. Vienna: Edition Echoraum, 2012.
Mead's paper was published in 1968 in a collection edited by Heinz von Foerster. With Mead uncontactable due to field work at the time, Foerster titled the paper "Cybernetics of Cybernetics", a title that perhaps emphasised his concerns more than Mead's. Foerster promoted second-order cybernetics energetically, developing it as a means of renewal for cybernetics generally and as what has been called an "unfinished revolution" in science.Müller, Albert, and Karl H. Müller, eds. An Unfinished Revolution? Heinz von Foerster and the Biological Computer Laboratory (BCL), 1958–1976. Vienna: Edition Echoraum, 2007. Foerster developed second-order cybernetics as a critique of realism and objectivity and as a radically reflexive form of science, where observers enter their domains of observation, describing their own observing not the supposed causes.
The initial development of second-order cybernetics was consolidated by the mid 1970s in a series of significant developments and publications. These included: the 1974 publication of the "Cybernetics of Cybernetics" book, edited by Foerster, developed as a course option at the BCL examining various texts from cybernetics according to the principles they proposed; autopoiesis, developed by biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela;Varela, Francisco J., Humberto R. Maturana, and R. Uribe. "Autopoiesis: The Organization of Living Systems, Its Characterization and a Model." BioSystems 5, no. 4 (1974): 187–196. Maturana, Humberto R, and Francisco J Varela. Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publisishing, 1980. conversation theory, developed by Gordon Pask, Bernard Scott and Dionysius Kallikourdis;Pask, Gordon, Bernard Scott, and D. Kallikourdis. "A Theory of Conversations and Individuals (Exemplified by the Learning Process on Caste)." International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 5, no. 4 (1973): 443–566.Pask, Gordon, and Bernard Scott. "Caste: A System for Exhibiting Learning Strategies and Regulating Uncertainties." International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 5, no. 1 (1973): 17–52.Pask, Gordon, D. Kallikourdis, and Bernard Scott. "The Representation of Knowables." International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 7, no. 1 (1975): 15–134.Pask, Gordon. Conversation, Cognition and Learning: A Cybernetic Theory and Methodology. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1975.Pask, Gordon. The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance: A Guide to Theory and Research. London: Hutchinson, 1975. radical constructivism, developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld;von Glasersfeld, Ernst. "Piaget and the Radical Constructivist Epistemology." In Epistemology and Education, edited by C. D. Smock and Ernst von Glasersfeld, 1–24. Athens, Georgia: Follow Through Publications, 1974. and other explorations of self-reference, including Foerster's eigen-formsvon Foerster, Heinz. "Objects: Tokens for (Eigen-)Behaviors." In . and Glanville's theory of objects.Glanville, Ranulph. "A Cybernetic Development of Epistemology and Observation, Applied to Objects in Space and Time, as Seen in Architecture: Also Known as the Object of Objects, the Point of Points—or Something About Things." Brunel University, 1975.
Participant observers A key concept in second-order cybernetics is that observers (and other actors, such as designers, modellers, users...) are to be understood as participants within the systems with which they are engaged, in contrast to the detachment implied in objectivity and conventional scientific practice. This includes cyberneticians inclusion of themselves in the practice of cybernetics, as well as the inclusion of participants within the consideration and design of systems more generally.
Second-order cybernetics' emphasis on participation and inclusion has led to affinities and overlaps with action research, design,Glanville, R. (2007). "Try again. Fail again. Fail better: The cybernetics in design and the design in cybernetics." Kybernetes, 36(9/10), 1173–1206. and the creative arts.Scholte, T. (2020), "A proposal for the role of the arts in a new phase of second-order cybernetics", Kybernetes, vol. 49, no. 8, pp. 2153–2170.