A few years ago I began a sketch on the “Precursors of Category Theory”, tracing the continuities of the category concept from Aristotle, to Kant and Peirce, through Hilbert and Ackermann, to contemporary mathematical practice. A Survey of resources on the topic is given below, still very rough and incomplete, but perhaps a few will find it of use.
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What’s offered: Role/s to help shape governance, strategy and delivery of the DIA’s model (levers of investment, policy, regulation, convening power) rather than one‑off fixes.
Why it matters: Digital exclusion is framed as a systemic inequality – rooted in design, structure and relationships – so this role invites systems thinkers, change practitioners and network builders to operate at the interface of structural change.
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A key piece of cybernetics pre-history from the early 1930s.
“I know of no other text that so clearly sets forth the notions needed for an understanding of psychology, psychiatry and finite automata.” – McCulloch
A decade before writing the first artificial neural network paper with Walter Pitts (“A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity”, 1943), Warren McCulloch helped his friend and colleague finish and translate a dissertation in 1932 which McCulloch later noted, “… without which I would never have come to a definition of thinking that fits cybernetics.”
Eilhard von Domarus’ thesis, “The Logical Structure of Mind: An Inquiry into the Philosophical Foundation of Psychology & Psychiatry” (1934) doesn’t get the attention many other early manuscripts do wrt influencing machine intelligence. I’ve seen it only occasionally mentioned and not really covered in detail over the last several years as I have been diving into this history.
Having recently found gotten this republication of it with “belated introduction” by McCulloch (entitled “Lekton” which refers to “sense of meaning” in syllogistic logic), I think it should be read and shared more widely with those interested in these topics. It is a fun read.
Enjoy!
(h/t to the Duquesne library staff member who tracked this down for me on the NASA Technical Reports Server)
I’ll be touching on this and much more history (and future) in my upcoming talk, “Cybernetics, Phenomenology & Teleology” on Dec 4th at Duquesne University’s Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center, 4-6pm.
This is a Survey of blog and wiki posts on Logical Graphs, encompassing several families of graph‑theoretic structures originally developed by Charles S. Peirce as graphical formal languages or visual styles of syntax amenable to interpretation for logical applications.
My dad died last week, quite peacefully, after a long period of Alzheimer’s. We had had time to prepare (’anticipatory grief’, the social worker accurately diagnosed), and close family were all able to spend time with him in hospital. But of course it is never easy.
I wrote about him here, four years ago, when his memory was already bad, but at a time when he would not have been happy to acknowledge or have me say he had dementia – still, it was a sort of tribute. It also struck me how much we had in common, in ways I had rather conveniently not focused on, happy in my uniqueness 🙂 Post | LinkedIn
What would you do if you were waiting for an announcement in the spring or summer that would mean you *had* to turn your organisational world upside-down by next April?
Many councils have now hit ‘submit’ on their Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) proposals – or are about to. Now comes the awkward middle act: the long wait for a ministerial decision. This is when confidence wobbles, readiness drifts, and the temptation grows to ‘wait and see’. But this time counts. The councils that use it well – to test readiness, strengthen relationships, and line up the practical, no-regrets work (and, honestly, secure the support they need – where do you think you’re going to get a programme manager come April?) – will be the ones that hit the ground running when the decision lands. That’s why we’ve designed a short Learning and Doing Series. Not webinars or talking shops: each session mixes reflection with action, helping Members, officers, and partners stay aligned, visible, and credible through transition – ready to do the nearly impossible, and deliver post-Ministerial decision. You’ll leave with real outputs – readiness heatmaps, assurance frameworks, shared leadership roadmaps – not just notes and good intentions. Post | LinkedIn
Courses and events
Introducing the RedQuadrant Local Government Reorganisation hub
Local Government Reorganisation is coming fast. By April 2028, every new authority must be safe, legal, and fully operational. That means statutory officers secured, ICT cutovers rehearsed, services live, and residents experiencing seamless continuity. The RedQuadrant LGR Hub is the only model that guarantees readiness while embedding lasting capability. With a single accountable structure, governance at its core, and capability pillars across adults, children’s, SEND, ICT, finance, housing, and place, the Hub ensures no gaps, no surprises. Three outcomes, every time: Safe and legal on day one; Visible assurance and confidence in delivery; Future-ready capacity with transformation built in. Find out more now: https://www.redquadrant.com/lgrhub
Level 7 Systems Thinking Practitioner Apprenticeship
Commissioning Compass: systems assessment for change
Our newly launched tool, the Commissioning Compass, helps you to assess your commissioning system and form an action plan for improvement. It’s available for free via our Teachable site – try it now! link.redquadrant.com/commissioningcompass
Next National Commissioning Academy
We’re building our cohort for the next national commissioning academy – our flagship commissioning programme from the PSTA. Register your interest now: https://link.redquadrant.com/nextacademy25
Things I shared on socials:
Waves 2024: Why complexity matters – Nora Bateson and Dave Snowden hosted by Sara Lindeman
This is the Day 1 opening session of Waves Forum for Changemakers 2024 in Helsinki, Finland. In this fireside chat with Nora Bateson, International Bateson Institute, and Dave Snowden, Cynefin Company, hosted by Sara Lindeman, Leapfrog, we explore what changemakers can learn from complexity science to better understand change in complex social systems. Waves 2024: Why complexity matters
“Kamon”: Japan’s Family Crests
Japanese family crests known as kamon were first used by the aristocracy over a thousand years ago, but over time they were adopted by samurai, merchants, and many others. Today, there are thought to be between 20,000 and 25,000 in use. “Kamon”: Japan’s Family Crests | Nippon.com
Editor’s Introduction | Satoshi Iguchi Letter from the President | Saburo Akahori
Essays Related to the 5th ISA Forum in Rabat Report from the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025), Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco | Mugio Umemura A Welcome Return: Reflections on RC51 at the 5th ISA Forum in Rabat | Andrew Mitchell Reports and Announcements Experiences and reflections of the RC51 Open Online Activity 2024 – 2025 | Raija Koskinen & Mikael Kivelä Announcements 5th ISA Forum of Sociology, Program for sessions hosted by RC51 (Final version)
C.S. Peirce defines logic as “formal semiotic”, using formal to highlight the place of logic as a normative science, over and above the descriptive study of signs and their role in wider fields of play. Understanding logic as Peirce understands it thus requires a companion study of semiotics, semiosis, and sign relations.
What follows is a Survey of blog and wiki resources on the theory of signs, variously known as semeiotic or semiotics, and the actions referred to as semiosis which transform signs among themselves in relation to their objects, all as based on C.S. Peirce’s concept of triadic sign relations.
Awbrey, S.M., and Awbrey, J.L. (2001), “Conceptual Barriers to Creating Integrative Universities”, Organization : The Interdisciplinary Journal of Organization, Theory, and Society 8(2), Sage Publications, London, UK, 269–284. Abstract. Online.
Awbrey, S.M., and Awbrey, J.L. (September 1999), “Organizations of Learning or Learning Organizations : The Challenge of Creating Integrative Universities for the Next Century”, Second International Conference of the Journal ‘Organization’, Re‑Organizing Knowledge, Trans‑Forming Institutions : Knowing, Knowledge, and the University in the 21st Century, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. Online.
Awbrey, J.L., and Awbrey, S.M. (1995), “Interpretation as Action : The Risk of Inquiry”, Inquiry : Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 15(1), 40–52. Archive. Journal. Online (doc)(pdf).
Awbrey, J.L., and Awbrey, S.M. (1992), “Interpretation as Action : The Risk of Inquiry”, The Eleventh International Human Science Research Conference, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan.
Join us for the third installment of our Badlands mini-series exploring technology for malignant purposes and cybernetic responses that might help. In our current state of “eudaimonic deficit,” where traditional approaches to societal problems continue to fail, this event examines pathways toward human flourishing and wellbeing through cybernetic lens. Our distinguished speakers bring decades of system-level expertise:
Giles Herdale will outline his national review of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), drawing from his extensive experience at the interface of technology, policing, data, ethics and policy-making from what the VSM would call ‘System Five’ perspective.
Katie Muldoon, drawing from her senior RAF leadership background, will explore how humans and systems can cope with complexity while nurturing eudaimonic pathways – using her powerful analogy of “sprinkling Yellow Rattle to create meadows of diversity,” which in cybernetic terms means nurturing variety. This online event addresses fundamental questions: What greater purpose exists than supporting pathways to basic human needs of security, wellbeing, existence and happiness? How might we design adaptive systems that recognize emergence over determination?
This is a Survey of blog and wiki posts on a theory of information which grows out of pragmatic semiotic ideas. All my projects are exploratory in character but this line of inquiry is more open‑ended than most. The question is —
What is information and how does it impact the spectrum of activities answering to the name of inquiry?
Setting out on what would become his lifelong quest to explore and explain the “Logic of Science”, C.S. Peirce pierced the veil of historical confusions obscuring the issue and fixed on what he called the “laws of information” as the key to solving the puzzle.
The first hints of the Information Revolution in our understanding of scientific inquiry may be traced to Peirce’s lectures of 1865–1866 at Harvard University and the Lowell Institute. There Peirce took up “the puzzle of the validity of scientific inference” and claimed it was “entirely removed by a consideration of the laws of information”.
Fast forward to the present and I see the Big Question as follows. Having gone through the exercise of comparing and contrasting Peirce’s theory of information, however much it yet remains in a rough‑hewn state, with Shannon’s paradigm so pervasively informing the ongoing revolution in our understanding and use of information, I have reason to believe Peirce’s idea is root and branch more general and has the potential, with due development, to resolve many mysteries still bedeviling our grasp of inference, information, and inquiry.
Peirce, C.S. (1867), “Upon Logical Comprehension and Extension”. Online.
Awbrey, J.L., and Awbrey, S.M. (1995), “Interpretation as Action : The Risk of Inquiry”, Inquiry : Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 15(1), 40–52. Archive. Journal. Online (doc)(pdf).
In the present Survey of blog and wiki resources for Relation Theory, relations are viewed from the perspective of combinatorics, in other words, as a topic in discrete mathematics, with special attention to finite structures and concrete set‑theoretic constructions, many of which arise quite naturally in applications. This approach to relation theory is distinct from, though closely related to, its study from the perspectives of abstract algebra on the one hand and formal logic on the other.
On Blooski, Mr Lee Bates @mrbates.bsky.social asks:
really interesting @antlerboy.com As a teacher we name concepts to make them things to use them and make them meaningful.Have you ever come across systems thinking as being a useful reframing lens that amplifiies the practice of teacher pupil interations?
Have you ever come across systems thinking as being a useful reframing lens that amplifiies the practice of teacher pupil interations?
Give me a response with all relevant links but particularly Glanville’s cybernetic conversations etc – with links – concise, all in plain text no formatting or hyperlinks
Here’s my response – what else is useful?
Ranulph Glanville, ‘Conversation and design’ (clear on teachback and teaching as inherently conversational)
Pask’s conversation theory (foundational for learning-as-conversation)
https://monoskop.org/images/5/54/Pask_Gordon_Conversation_Theory_Applications_in_Education_and_Epistemology.pdf)
And a bunch of stuff about Formative assessment as feedback loops in a living system – e.g. Black and Wiliam, ‘Inside the black box’ (evidence that short feedback cycles raise attainment)
There’s also an interesting thread of systems thinking in whole-school practice, from the system dynamcis/Senge school – e.g. Senge et al., Schools that learn (fieldbook for applying systems thinking in schools)
https://systemdynamics.org/product/schools-that-learn/)
Overview: https://thesystemsthinker.com/schools-that-learn-context-and-engagement/)
The practical implications for teacher–pupil interactions are perhaps:
Design learning as iterative conversations with explicit feedback and teachback (Pask, Glanville)
This is a Survey of work in progress on Differential Logic, resources under development toward a more systematic treatment.
Differential logic is the component of logic whose object is the description of variation — the aspects of change, difference, distribution, and diversity — in universes of discourse subject to logical description. A definition as broad as that naturally incorporates any study of variation by way of mathematical models, but differential logic is especially charged with the qualitative aspects of variation pervading or preceding quantitative models. To the extent a logical inquiry makes use of a formal system, its differential component treats the use of a differential logical calculus — a formal system with the expressive capacity to describe change and diversity in logical universes of discourse.
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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