Citation

Dell PF. Fam. Process 1989; 28(1): 1-14.

Affiliation

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk 23501.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Family Process Institute, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2703047

Abstract

Violence is a strikingly lineal concept that is difficult to address from a systemic perspective. Bateson's epistemological disqualification of the concept of power is often understood to imply a corresponding systemic disqualification of the concept of violence. This position is examined in light of recent feminist criticism. It is argued that (a) violence and power belong essentially to the domain of human experience and (b) human experience cannot be invalidated by theory. Accordingly, it is suggested that the (appropriate) invalidation of power and violence in the domain of systemic explanation should probably be understood both as a deliberate choice that necessarily follows from adopting a systemic perspective, and as a fundamental limitation of that perspective. In neither case, however, should the systemic view be considered to be a valid disqualification of the human experience of violence and power.

Language: en