THE STRATEGY OF COMMUNICATION ANTHONY WILDENFirst published in 1987 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Lid 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Published in the USA by Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Set in Linotron Sabon 10 on 12pr by Input Typesetting Lid, London and printed in Great Britain by The Therford Press Lad, Thetford, Norfolk © Anthony Wilden 1987 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Wilden, Anthony. The rules are no game Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Communication. 2. Linguistics. 3. Sociology. I. Hammer, Rhonda, i. Title P9.W4ST = 1986 01.51 85-30169 British Library CIP data also available ISBN 0-7100-9868-5 For Mark and Paul Doucement allé loin Softly takes you far Patience bat la force Patience masters force Motto of General Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803) BOOK CoveR: ‘This is not a pipe’ (1928-9) by René Magritte (1898-1967), entitled The Treachery of Images. The image is a report, a command, and a question about itself, and thus self-referring, creating the oscillation of a double bind between ‘pipe’ and ‘not a pipe’ (a paradoxical injunction like ‘Do not read this"). The content level of the message ~ the supposed text — is placed in a ‘strange’ or self-reflexive loop with the relationship level of the message — the supposed context. See pp. 210, 244, 256-7.Contents ‘To the reader _(xi) PART The of parts and the 20th war (1) PART 2 The strategy of communication (65) (CHAPTER 1 Levels of reality (67) L1_ Symbolic, ima and 18 Freedom and constraint (772) teal_(67) 1.6 Opposites (79) 12 The human context_(70) L7 The rational and the real_(62) 13 Energy and information _(71 18 Form and matter (68) 14 Orders of complexity (73) 19 Chhi and Li (69) CHAPTER2 000 Kith and kin (91) 21 Origins (91) 25 Mapping (10° 22 Memory (96) 26 Orientation (112) 23 Rules and miles (102) 2.7 Power (117) 24 Marriage and descent__(105) CHAPTER 3 Language and communication (122) 31 Svmbolzaton innate (122) _36 a Subsectony and onan (136) jectivity (124) 37 Signs _(140) 3 Science and thea 126) 38 Semiotics (Idi 34 K discourse has a subject _(132)_39 Joseph Priestley on universal 35 The lasting word (133) grammar _(143) CHAPTER 4 00 System and structure (146) 4.1 Map and territory (146) 4.3 Mediation (160) 4. Code and message _(151)