Hello,


On Fri, Jul 28, 2006 at 04:15:54PM +0200, Dr. Axel Poign wrote:
> I am the happy owner of a copy of Spencer-Browns book which I got  
> interested in in the early 70's. I actually found the book in  
> Blackwell's in Oxford, where it was in the section "Religions" (nomen  
> est omen?).  Further I own a manuscript on "The Arithmetic of  
> closure" by Francisco Varela

Can you send me a copy of this paper?
(scanned or as paper-copies)?!
(Or at least mention, where to find it (ISBN)?!)



> (then at the Department of Anatomy at  
> the University of Colorado, Denver) who related Spencer-Brown to  
> Scott's work, and finally as a more accessible reference:
> 
> A Calculus for Self-Reference
> Francisco Varela
> Int. Journal General Systems, 1975, Vol.2, p.8-34
> Gordon and Breach Scientific Publishers Ltd.
> Great Britain

This one I have somewhere in my paper copies; I found this article
in a library.

But to understand it, I first have to jump into LoF-details.

Some poeple said they had to re-read this book many times,
until they really understand it.
I hope to be faster here ;-)



> 
> The stuff is quite interesting reading for historical reasons.

Only for that reasons?


LoF seems to be - even if it's mentioned that it's a mathematical book - quite good
for philosophical reasoning, and makes sense in a cybernetics-context
(cybernetics, radical constructivism, Heinz von Foerster, Maturana, ...).

And therefore there is a linkage to Zen/Buddhism
(for example look at Heinz von Foerster's text "Objects: Tokens for Eigen-Behaviors",
 in german: "Gegenstände: greifbare Symbole für (Eigen-)Verhalten").

Also interesting on this topic: Maturana's work.

But before we will be too off-topic, I will stop here. ;-)

Best,
   Oliver Bandel

-- 
"Objectivity is a subject's delusion that
 observing can be done without him."
                        (Heinz von Foerster)