THE SYSTEMIC VIEW OF VIOLENCE - AN ETHICAL PERSPECTIVE

Systems theory has been critiqued by a number of feminist writers who felt that it did not adequately address the issues of violence and mal e domination in. families. This essay argues that systems theory descr ibes the world from an ''exogenic'' perspective-the scientific world o f nature, which is intrinsically amoral. In the exogenic world all cau sality is circular, as nature maintains a system that has survived for billions of years. Bateson found ''mind'' to be within the system of nature, implying that mind must also be amoral. However, most people v iew the world from an ''endogenic'' perspective, a personal constructi on of reality molded by the environment in which they live, and which inevitably incorporates morality. Humans believe that violence is wron g, not for intellectual reasons, but for moral reasons. Implications f or therapy are presented. A postmodern or constructivist position is t aken as a way to acknowledge the influence of relationships on problem s and definitions of problems, while allowing for a moral or legal con sensus to pervade the therapeutic enterprise.