George Spencer Brown

This thesis discusses the philosophical foundations of the Laws of Form, a work by George Spencer-Brown, and its relevance in systems theory, as well as its understanding by the re-nowned sociologist Niklas Luhmann and explores its relevance in his work. The paper answers several key questions about the Laws of Form, including their purpose, relevance, and applica-bility. The Laws of Form is a philosophy of language that is similar to Wittgenstein's work in structure and content. The Laws of Form propose that objects come into existence only through the form, and that distinctions are consequences of commands. The distinction be-tween the signifier and the signified is the semiotic component of the Laws of Form, and mathematical formalism is derived from this semiotics. The article also explains the concept of re-entry and the interpretation of the calculus of indications. Although the Laws of Form were mentioned in systems theory, this thesis found that Spencer-Brown had little to do with the field, neither in content nor in history. Moreover, this thesis argues that Luhmann misunder-stood Spencer-Brown, mainly due to his confusion between the concepts of distinction and observation. It critically discusses Luhmann's misunderstandings of the Laws of Form and his attempt to link the work with his theory of social systems. From this different understanding an attempt is made to create a different sociological reading of the Laws of Form and create a sociological interpretation of the calculus of indications.


PS: The single goal of this publication is to start a discussion. Feel free to email me at
jansimner@gmail.com and to give me a comment.

Recent developments within phenomenology have brought to light the indebtedness of phenomenological scientific philosophy to Ancient Greek philosophy. The recent trend that builds on the ancient precedents found in the theories of forms, for example, has demonstrated the importance of the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle for contemporary manifestations of the development of phenomenological eidetic science. This thesis builds on three parallel developments in the phenomenology of time that equally indicate the significance of the ancient Hellenic exact mathematical science of spherical cosmology for the further propagation of phenomenological philosophy. The hypothesis of the infinite sphere gives phenomenology an external foundation capable of accounting for the constitution of the phenomenal universe, possible worlds, and the harmonic continuum of life spanning the inner and outer cosmos. Phenomenological cosmology offers a unified metaphysical framework for first philosophy and the special sciences, with particularly interesting implications for empirical cosmology and theoretical physics. Phenomenology of the spheres brings these phenomenological cosmological insights together in the geometric comprehension of the infinite sphere.

Draft Paper demonstrating how George Spencer-Brown's Calculus of Indications, as outlined in his book, 'Laws of Form' (1969/2012) can be applied to make working in classical logic faster and easier than using other approaches to notation and validation.

In the 1970s the Chilean biologist Francisco Varela developed a systems theory of life as autopoietic, or self-creating, on the formal basis of the mathematician George Spencer-Brown's 1969 book Laws of Form. Although Varela saw the great power and simplicity of Spencer-Brown' s calculus, he appropriated Spencer-Brown's calculus by adding a third law to the original two laws of form. This law makes self-reference explicit, and I'll argue that it is a redundant addition because self-reference is already implied by indication. The addition of this redundancy has the effect of separating the transcendental realm of constitutive operations from the natural realm of effects. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka's phenomenology of life as ontopoiesis, on the other hand, succeeds in developing a theory of life on the formal ontological basis prepared by Husserl's phenomenology, transcendental logic, and the living tradition of a mathesis universalis. Tymieniecka's phenomenological theory of life is a breakthrough to life's inner workings, and rests on an ontologically robust foundation. By drawing attention to the calculus behind the calculus, I hope to initiate the interpretation of Spencer-Brown's calculus of indications as an important manifestation of the mathesis universalis, and apply the interpretation to the place prepared by Tymieniecka's phenomenology of ontopoiesis.

The application of George Spencer-Brown's Calculus of Indications in 'Laws of Form' to the analysis of story structure. Presentation for the LoF50 Conference, 2019 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1st publication of 'Laws of Form'.
A video of the talk (viewable at https://vimeo.com/359954407) forms part of West Den Haag's exhibition, Alphabetum III (28 Sep 19 - 31 Dec 19 and will be archived on line following the close of the exhibition.
An annotated version of the presentation file can be downloaded from this site.
A full paper is due to be published in the conference proceedings in 2020.

The encountering of the experiencer or observer—transcendental subjectivity itself—at the foundation of the world leads inevitably to the recognition of pure objectivity as ultimate reality (which can be taken as its ultimate deconstruction, analogous to the apophatic or via negativa), from which objects derive their value, weight, significance, meaning or objectivity. In this way, pure objectivity can be seen as the supra-self-evident Axiological Axiom, so to speak, even Unconditional Love, in romantic terms. This axiology (value theory) has a structure inverse to the relationship between transcendental subjectivity as the radical unity of pure self-reference and on the other hand, the world of forms, as mere traces (representations, indications) of the unique, original “first distinction” Spencer-Brown speaks of at the foundation of his calculus. That is, all forms (i.e., distinctions, differences) would reduce to being the first distinction, also known as the marked state, which ...

PURPOSE

Blake is relatively well-known, but who was J M Robertson? What's his connection with George Spencer-Brown? And how exactly did J M Robertson influence George Spencer-Brown?

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

George Spencer-Brown (1923-2016) is the author (among other works) of the undeservedly little-known book, Laws of Form (1969/2011), which was a key inspiration for Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998). But what inspired George Spencer-Brown?

This paper explores two key influences on George Spencer-Brown and his work: the English poet and artist, William Blake (1757-1827) and the Scottish rationalist, politician and author, J M Robertson (1856-1933).

FINDINGS

The paper points to a broken link between George Spencer-Brown's work and Niklas Luhmann's.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

These questions are explored from two perspectives: first, George Spencer-Brown's works and their debt to (1) Blake's work, from which he quotes in a number of instances and to (2) J M Robertson's (in particular, the latter's Letters on Reasoning (1905) and Rationalism (1912)); second, my personal connection to Spencer-Brown, who mentored me through Laws of Form and with whom I developed a close friendship involving regular weekly telephone conversations for the greater part of the last four years of Spencer-Brown's life. I share anecdotes and stories that connect George Spencer-Brown and J M Robertson that span George Spencer-Brown's lifetime from his school days to his dying days. Both Blake's and Robertson's influences are relevant to Spencer-Brown's view of morality. The paper looks at specific connections between Blake's work and J M Robertson's on the one hand and George Spencer-Brown's on the other.

The present paper seeks to expound the sociological prospects of a connection between the calculus of indications as presented in the Laws of Form (Spencer-Brown, 1994) and current sociological theory. Since sociology gets more and more interested in communication and perception, indeterminacy, boundaries, and difference, this attempt seems worthwhile. There is, however, a general condition that has to be met: A reasonable use of the calculus in sociology demands that the calculus is socialized. This paper is an attempt at such a socialization. It is not about how to use the calculus in sociology but rather about how to construe the calculus to develop a theory of social forms.
Keywords: sociology, social forms, methodology, communication, meaning, observer, sociological notation""

If computer programs were smarter, they would, like people, recognize sequences of events, form models of their environment, and formulate rules based on experience.  This paper describes the development of a program designed to address the difficult computational problems involved in integrating the inductive and deductive reasoning necessary to perform such tasks.  “Theme One” is a prototype program composed of “Index”, a learning algorithm for sequential data, and “Study”, an algorithm for building logical models.  The project goal is an interactive research tool that assists students and investigators in the exploration of qualitative data using artificial intelligence.

The paper appeared in Communicology, 2018, Vol. 6. No. 1, pp 175–191. Readers are strongly advised to refer to the versions of the paper on academia.edu:
https://www.academia.edu/12103235/Laws_of_Form_Laws_of_Logic
https://www.academia.edu/31080884/Laws_of_Form_-_Laws_of_Logic_-_ANPA_2016

This paper investigates the topic of universal values by taking a metahistorical view of how people have viewed the transcendentals (Being, Unity, Truth, Goodness, Beauty/Harmony) at particular points in the development of human culture from the New Kingdom in Ancient Egypt to Renaissance Florence, analysing these using the paired principles of fixity and volatility common to the work of both George Lakoff and George Spencer-Brown. This approach provides a background against which the nature and role of universal values in today’s world can be explored. The paper argues that our responses to both categorical and transcendental modes of thought are part of our being, and concludes that an awareness of universal values – as defined in this paper – and an active engagement with them at a personal and a social level is—and always has been—vital to building civil society, as a manifestation of universal order. It ends by calling for further enquiry into the relationship between civil engagement driven by awareness of transcendentals and the development of effective social modes of being and acting at personal, local, national and global levels.

The study compares different classifications of sentence types in British English. It focuses on the intentions which give rise to different sentence types in English and sees the generation of sentences as an act of individual creation rather than a mere mechanical exercise. It proposes an objective means of reaching a comprehensive way of approaching their classification through the application of Spencer-Brown’s Laws of Form (1969/2011). It argues that doing so has the potential to enable greater understanding and potential for self-expression, self-realisation and self-fulfilment if applied in an educational context because of (i) the focus on the relationship between the knower and the known and (ii) the emergent quality which gives rise to the distinctions. The paper also puts forward suggestions for further work in the application of Spencer-Brown’s Laws to language.

This article seeks to outline a link between true journalism and the jus naturale which underlies the notion of human rights. It argues that the link between them sustains and is sustained by the role that true journalists play in society, within the boundaries of a free press, regulated by independent bodies which uphold agreed standards. The article argues that the way in which true journalism as a vital part of civic society can be cultivated is through cultivating a balance between fact-finding, reason, and emotional appeal on the one hand and mystery, chance, and silence on the other. With reference to Keats, Wittgenstein, Philip Pullman, and particularly George Spencer-Brown’s work, it argues that it is the cultivation of the latter qualities which lead journalists and their readers to seek and manifest the ineffable both in journalistic work and in the way it is perceived, and that the extent to which the ineffable is made manifest and brought to light is what makes true journalism worthy of the name.

This paper demonstrates that Spencer-Brown’s calculus of indications outlined in his book Laws of Form (Spencer-Brown, 2011) provides a powerful way of notating and validating classical logical syllogisms which has clear advantages in terms of speed, clarity, and ease of use in comparison with other forms of notation, such as text or Venn diagrams. It also shows how Spencerian notation can facilitate working with eduction via obversion and conversion; and working with sorites.

To date, the Calculus of Indications (hereafter ‘CoI’) in George Spencer-Brown’s book 'Laws of Form' has been applied mainly in the fields of mathematics, logic, and social theory through the work of Kauffman, Varela, Luhmann, and others. Its application to literary analysis and narrative studies has been minimal, although Bouissac mentions the CoI and suggests its application in relation to the ‘Saussurean unfinished agenda’ (2006, pp. 256, 260). Berensmeyer (2004), Clarke (2008), and Kunze (2018) are, to my knowledge, the only narrative scholars to have drawn on Spencer-Brown’s work in print to date.  In his presentation at The Unmarked State Laws of Form 50th Anniversary Conference (LoF50), Freystetter (2019) draws out a metaphorical relationship between the narrative account of the unfolding of the universe in Genesis I and the presentation of the CoI as unfolding from the first distinction, seeing the Hebrew account as a precursor and generator of the CoI.  As such, his work—fascinating as it is—lies outside the scope of this paper, which looks solely at the application of the CoI to literary analysis and narrative studies.

The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate the directly relevant approaches cited above in terms of how they relate to Spencer-Brown’s work, and ask to what extent they reveal the underlying workings of the CoI, starting with Clarke’s work, proceeding to Kunze’s and then Berensmeyer’s. In the process I intend to situate my own work in the context of Spencer-Brown’s and to add some thoughts on how the CoI might be applied to the process of narrative analysis and in the analysis of social systems.

George Spencer-Brown's Laws of Form is a mathematical treatise that calls for philosophical interpretation. Its core component, the calculus of indications, progresses from the simple act of drawing a distinction, through a number of levels of the indication of that distinction, until it finally reaches the level of real existence and the universe as we know it. While applicable to any special case of indication and semantic expression, this calculus is simultaneously a direct analysis of the underlying and ubiquitous substratum of creation from nothing. This means that Laws of Form should be understood as offering a theory of being (an ontology) and a theory of form (a phenomenology) on the common ground of an intuitive simplicity. The calculus of indications gives us a way of understanding everything-every possible object, every overall gestalt, every possible world, every thing; in both the precise literal sense and the diffuse metaphorical sense-as a form of indication, and all indication-the very form; codified by this calculus-as based on an original and primary distinction at the boundary between everything and nothing. This ultimate boundary, called the first distinction; stands in a very peculiar relation to every familiar thing in our conscious experience. This singular peculiarity of the first distinction should be regarded on the basis of mathematical ontology, in terms of what is called prima philosophia, first philosophy (Greek: πρώτη φιλοσοφία), and in such terms we can determine its ontological and phenomenological status. ...

George Spencer-Brown is the author (among other works) of the undeservedly little-known book, 'Laws of Form', which was a major inspiration for Niklas Luhmann. But what inspired George Spencer-Brown?

This paper explores two key influences on George Spencer-Brown and his work: the figure of the Scottish rationalist, politician, and author, J M Robertson and the poet and artist, William Blake.

William Blake is relatively well known, but who was J M Robertson? What is his connection with George Spencer-Brown? And how exactly did J M Robertson influence George Spencer-Brown?

These questions are explored from two perspectives: first, George Spencer-Brown’s works and their debt to J M Robertson’s (in particular, the latter’s Letters on Reasoning and Rationalism); second, Leon Conrad’s personal connection to Spencer-Brown, who mentored him through 'Laws of Form' and with whom he developed a personal friendship involving regular weekly telephone conversations for the greater part of the last four years of Spencer-Brown’s life. He will share anecdotes and stories that connect George Spencer-Brown and J M Robertson that span George Spencer-Brown’s lifetime – from his school days to his dying days.

J M Robertson’s influence is particularly relevant to Spencer-Brown’s view of morality. The paper looks at specific connections between J M Robertson’s 'Letters on Reasoning' and George Spencer-Brown’s 'Laws of Form', 'A Lion’s Teeth', 'Only Two Can Play This Game' (written under the pseudonym of James Keys) and the unpublished manuscript, 'The Questions of Existence'.

The paper points to a broken link between George Spencer-Brown’s work and Niklas Luhmann’s.