Winner of the Silver Medal for Environment/Ecology in the 2022 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards
Fritjof Capra, scientist, educator, activist, and accomplished author, presents the evolution of his thought over five decades in Patterns of Connection. First introduced in the late 1950s to the work of Werner Heisenberg, a founder of quantum mechanics, Capra quickly intuited the connections between the discoveries of quantum physics and the traditions of Eastern philosophy—resulting in his first book, the bestselling The Tao of Physics. This synthesis, representative of the change from the mechanistic worldview of Descartes and Newton to a systemic, ecological one, went on to inform Capra’s thinking about the life sciences, ecology, and environmental policy. His observations of sustainable communities in nature inspired his work on systems theory—the complex web of interrelated processes that organize everything from biological systems to social, cultural, and political systems.
Today Fritjof Capra remains a major figure at the crossroads of physics, spirituality, environmentalism, and systems theory. Organized thematically and chronologically, the essays in Patterns of Connection document the revolutionary and far-reaching intellectual journey of one of the major public thinkers of the last half-century.
Arvustused
This is the chronicle of an intellectually important and interesting life - Capra's understanding of systems thinking becomes ever more useful as we enter this period of systemic collapse. It's a story of routes we never really took and that we must now find again."" - Bill McKibben, author of Falter and The End of Nature
Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter
1. Philosophical Roots: Heisenberg and the Sixties
Essay
1. Werner Heisenberg: Explorer of the Limits of Human Imagination
Essay
2. Heisenberg and Tagore
Essay
3. Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Reflections on the Spirit and
Legacy of the Sixties
Chapter
2. Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism: First Discoveries of the
Parallels
Essay
4. The Dance of Shiva: The Hindu View of Matter in the Light of Modern
Physics
Essay
5. Bootstrap and Buddhism
Essay
6. Particle Physics and Eastern Philosophy
Essay
7. In Memoriam Geoffrey Chew, 19242019
Chapter
3. Implications of the New Physics
Essay
8. The New Physics as a Model for a New Medicine, Psychology, and
Economics?
Essay
9. The Unification of Physics
Chapter
4. The New Vision of Reality: An Early Synthesis
Essay
10. Homage to Gregory Bateson
Essay
11. The Turning Point: A New Vision of Reality
Essay
12. The Role of Physics in the Current Change of Paradigms
Chapter
5. Crisis of Perception
Essay
13. Why Are the Real Issues of Our Time Excluded from the Political
Dialogue?
Essay
14. The Challenge of the Nineties
Chapter
6. Ecological Literacy
Essay
15. The Principles of Ecology
Essay
16. Ecology and Community
Essay
17. Turn, Turn, Turn: Understanding Natures Cycles
Chapter
7. Complexity and Life
Essay
18. Russian Pioneers of Systems Thinking
Essay
19. What Is Life? Revisited
Essay
20. Complexity and Life
Essay
21. Arcadia and the Science of Complexity
Chapter
8. The Full Synthesis
Essay
22. The Nature of Life: Integrating Biological, Cognitive, and Social
Dimensions
Essay
23. Food, Water, and Life
Essay
24. The Flow of Life in the Art of Andy Goldsworthy
Chapter
9. Systemic Problems Systemic Solutions
Essay
25. The Challenge of the 21st Century
Essay
26. Systems Thinking and the State of the World
Essay
27. The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systemic Analysis
Chapter
10. Ecology and Ethics
Essay
28. Deep Ecology: A New Paradigm
Essay
29. Earth Ethics
Chapter
11. Science and Spirituality Revisited
Essay
30. Science, Spirituality, and Religion
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Fritjof Capra is the recipient of many awards, including the Gold Medal of the UK Systems Society, the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic, the Bioneers Award, the New Dimensions Broadcaster Award, and the American Book Award. He became universally known for his book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, which explored the ways in which modern physics was changing our worldview from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological one. Capra lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and daughter.
