Exploring the Context of Pattern Languages 2017/10/21
Channel: David Ing
Date: 03/03/2018

In advance of Purplsoc 2017, participants were invited to participate in a “Reading Tour” on The Nature of Order. In that work, and in “Empirical Findings from The Nature of Order”, a continuing thread in system theory and the systems sciences is exhibited. David Bohm’s writing on complex adaptive systems are explicitly cited.

A workshop during the Purplsoc meeting invited participants to explore some of the foundational philosophical directions that might be considered in progressing generative pattern languages.

Christopher Alexander’s earlier training was in physics and mathematics, and his work was sympathetic to evolutionary approaches to biology. The systems sciences have their roots in general systems theory in the 1960s, and have progressed into the 21st century.

To encourage discussion, a starter set of 7 ideas was formed as a dialectic. These 7 pairs are to be outlined during the workshop, as an introduction to prime the conversation.

The 2-hour collaboration was captured as digital audio.  

David Ing, "Exploring the Context of Pattern Languages: A dialogue on the world around Christopher Alexander", Proceedings of the PURPLSOC (Pursuit of Pattern Languages for Societal Change) Conference 2017.

Presentation slides and downloadable audio are available at http://coevolving.com/commons/20171021-exploring-the-context-of-pattern-languages