No abstract

Appendix 1The writer, entering, scans the library tables for unclaimed territory. A sunny corner attracts him. He makes it his own, coat over an adjoining chair, notepad and reference articles piled boundarywise, centre table. First a glance round, then he uncaps the pen, stares into the lined page, and . . .A n d . . .Before, the task has seemed simple. Three thoughtful authors. Three erudite papers on postmodernism. 'Compare and contrast.' He has written a story in this genre a hundred times before. The rules, at least, are simple: 0 tell your story in the style favoured by the learned journal for which you are writing 0 show, subtly (no bragging), that you have read more on the subject at hand than the authors on whom you comment 0 bring in to your story eavesdroppings from other tongues (Latin is pass;, particle physics is good, French philosophy best) 0 startle and amaze the reader with your retelling of stubborn or elusive ideas of the other authors 0 lead the account towards a simple and memorable ending which proclaims (again, subtlety is all) the writer's authority as a teller of such stories.And . . .The writer knows these rules, and knows he can follow them. But this morning he seems remote from their spell. Time was when they were the invisible tracks which guided the pen from left to right, from top to bottom, from start to finish. Time was when he could have spun * Psychiatrist, North Shields Community Mental Health Team, 26a Hawkeys

Three central themes of Maturana's work -autopoiesis, the biology of cognition, and cybernetic ontology -are examined. Evidence is offered that Maturana's treatment of these themes is either unoriginal or flawed. The uncritical acceptance of Maturana's work by family therapists raises questions about the maturity of their discipline, especially in so far as many practitioners claim an understanding of cybernetics.

The following paper is a transcript of an address given at the Sixth Australian Family Therapy Conference. The author has for some time been exercised by the puzzle of how therapists still manage to Do Things despite the continuing elaboration of a corpus of elegant explanatory theories to account for their experiences with families. This issue is developed in the context of the conference theme.

In therapeutic work a systemic approach has characteristically focused on the family or marital system. In this paper the author focuses on the patient/health care system in a particular case and argues that chronic disability can be seen as a systemic feature rather than a characteristic of the individual patient. A strategy is taken from the field of international conflict and its therapeutic value is explored.