The document discusses approaches to multicultural counseling and worldviews. It explores the worldviews of Charles Sanders Peirce and Gregory Bateson, focusing on Peirce's concept of infinite semiosis and Bateson's ecology of mind. It argues that their theories can strengthen the conceptual model of approaching client worldviews in counseling proposed by Parkkinen and Puukari. Specifically, it notes that client worldviews are dynamically constructed through counselor-client interactions and influenced by social and technological changes.

1. Approaching Worldviews in Multicultural Counselling:
The Possible Worldview of Peirce and Bateson
EDUS340 Multicultural Guidance and Counselling, Dr. Sauli Puukari
Tocci Vincenzo
UNIVERSITY OF JYVASKYLA
SPRING 2014

2. 2
“Counselling denotes a professional relationship between a
trained counsellor and a client. This relationship is usually
person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than
two people. It is designed to help clients to understand and
clarify their views of their lifespace, and to learn to reach their
self-determined goals through meaningful, well-informed
choices and through resolution of problems of an emotional or
interpersonal nature” (Burks and Stefflre, 1979, in Mcleod,
2009, 5).
1. Introduction
There are many definitions of counselling and in this specific one the authors underline the
relevance of the counsellor-client relationship. In effect, counselling acts through the
interaction between two or more people. It means that counselling is a continuous process
grounded on communication, be it verbal or not verbal, between individuals. The
anthropologist Geertz (1973) regarding the culture wrote that “man is an animal suspended in
webs of significance he himself has spun” (5). According to the universal trend, that is, all
individuals belong to many cultures, counselling is always a ‘multicultural process’. Despite
the unpredictable nature of multicultural processes, Parkkinen and Puukari (2005) suggest a
conceptual model for approaching different cultures in counselling that all counsellors can
use in their profession. It is based on the integration of the concept of worldview (Emmy van
Deurzen-Smith, 1988) and the conception of the human being in relation to good life
(Kotkajärvi & Nyyssönen, 1996).
The aim of this essay is to extend the relevance of the worldview approach in
multicultural counselling to all counselling practices. In fact, the concept of culture here is
proposed both as a universal as well as a culture-specific trend. Metaphorically speaking,
culture is like different lens that everybody uses for looking at the particular world in which
he interacts and evolves (Ibrahim et al. 1994). The idea is to explain this through the
worldview of two big scholars of epistemology, namely Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
and Gregory Bateson (1904-1980).
2. Worldview of Peirce and Bateson
C. S. Peirce and G. Bateson were two researchers that committed all their studies to several
disciplines like philosophy, psychology, semiotic, logic, communication, sociology,
anthropology and so on. Their commitment has been so broad because they have focused on
epistemology and its processes. Even if they lived in different historic periods they developed
a common idea about knowledge processes as belonging to a non-static world. In other

3. 3
words, knowledge processes are continuously constructed in the endless interaction between
the inner world and the external world of the mind.
2.1. The Semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce and the Concept of ‘Infinite
Semiosis’
With the concept of ‘infinite semiosis’ Peirce (1933) pointed out the infinite construction of
signs and ideas in the semiotic process. Semiotics is the science that studies signs. Peirce
(1933) defined a sign as anything which is so determined by something else, called its object,
and so determines an effect upon a person, this effect is called its interpretant, that the later is
thereby mediately determined by the former.
Peirce's basic assertion is that signs consist of three interrelated parts: a sign, an object,
and an interpretant. Simply put, we can think of the sign as the signifier, for instance, a
written or a spoken word like smoke, as a sign for fire etc. The object, on the other hand, is
best thought of as whatever is signified, for example, the object to which the written or
spoken word relates to, or the fire signified by the smoke. The interpretant, the most
innovative and distinctive feature of Peirce's theory, is best thought of as the understanding
that we have of the sign-object relation. For example the interpretant can be the action of
calling the firefighters (Peirce, 1933). “The importance of the interpretant for Peirce is that
signification is not a simple dyadic relationship between sign and object: a sign signifies only
in being interpreted. This makes the interpretant central to the content of the sign, in that, the
meaning of a sign is manifest in the interpretation that it generates in sign users” (Atkin,
2013).
For explaining the concept of infinite semiosis Peirce uses the chain’s metaphor, that is
the image of a chain of signs with either a first or a last sign. Since any sign must determine
an interpretant to count as a sign, the final sign would not be a sign unless it has an
interpretant. Moreover, since any sign must be an interpretant of a previous sign, a first sign
would not be a sign unless it is also an interpretant of a previous sign. In conclusion, as any
sign must determine an interpretant in order to count as a sign and interpretants are
themselves signs, infinite chains of signs seem to become conceptually necessary. Therefore
the semiotic process implies that signs continue generating signs ad infinitum (Atkin, 2005).
The infinite semiosis of Peirce (1933) implicates that in counsellor-client relationship
there is a continuous construction of new signs, and it means that definition of worldview’s
client is strongly related to the interaction (with the counsellor) that is happening in that
moment.

4. 4
2.2 Ecology of mind of Gregory Bateson and the ‘idea of evolution’
What does Bateson mean with the expression ‘ecology of mind’? The basic assumption is
that knowledge of each living being is part of a larger whole made up of relationships
between its parts, which evolve together as an ecosystem. And the mental system is a living
system, part of a broader mental system, which is also done of parts that interact and evolve
together. The mind is, in essence, an aggregate of ideas where Bateson uses the expression
ecology of ideas. In other words Bateson uses the term ‘ecology’ for meaning everything
relies on interaction and relationship.
The worldview of Bateson is represented by the interconnection of three different
worlds: the physical world, the inner world and the outer world. The first is the world in
which things are not alive and that C. G. Jung (1989) called Pleroma. We could imagine
relatively like the world of ‘billiard balls’. They respond to the forces and energy exerted on
them. A billiard ball strikes another, and the second responds with the energy received from
the first, and if you want to know what happens, it examines the physical quantity of the force
with which a ball is pushed or hit. The other two worlds rely on living things. If you give a
kick to a dog, it reacts with the energy of its metabolism and the interpretation instinctive to
the fact of being hit. Accordingly there are facts, and these facts are ideas and not physical
forces. Hence in these facts or ideas what we can see is only the ‘difference’: you can see that
the dog rails against you or runs away and so on.
Mind operates on the basis of differences. The difference is not in things themselves,
but rather in their relationship. To define the difference Bateson uses Korzybski’s (1931)
dichotomy between map and territory. In this case the mind is the map, while the reality is the
territory. Therefore, the differences are transferred from the territory to the map. Mind
considers a small part of the large number of differences that exist in reality, which it encodes
making it become information. The difference, or information, in the mental circuits travels
as an idea. In conclusion, Bateson distinguishes between the physical world of the pleroma,
which works on physical forces, and the mental world of the creature, which works on ideas
(Bateson, 1972).
The ecology of ideas of Bateson (1972) implicates that in counsellor-client relationship
the role of the counsellor is fundamental in the evolution of the ideas of the client because the
counsellor becomes part of his ecosystem.

5. 5
3. Approaching worldviews in multicultural counseling
According to D. W. Sue and D. Sue (2008), multicultural counsellors must hold some
competencies including understanding the worldview of culturally diverse clients and using
appropriate intervention strategies and techniques Parkkinen and Puukari (2005). Audi (1995)
sustains that worldview constitutes an overall perspective on life that sums up what we know
about the world, how we evaluate it emotionally, and how we respond to it volitionally
Parkkinen and Puukari (2005).
The conceptual model of Parkkinen and Puukari (2005) offers effective support for
aforementioned competencies, as it encompasses the two paradigms of existential approach
as described by Emmy van Deurzen-Smith (1988), and the conception of individuals and
their well-being (Kotkajärvi & Nyyssönen, 1996).
In the first paradigm, Emmy van Deurzen-Smith (1988) proposes a framework that
describes the four basic dimensions of human existence (Parkkinen and Puukari, 2005):
• Natural World: physical and biological dimensions where an individual is likely to
behave in an instinctual manner (nutrition, sleep, sex, health, ageing, etc.)
• Social World: social dimension of human relationship and interactions where an
individual is likely to behave in a learnt, cultured manner (gender, family, social class,
ethnic background, work environment, etc.)
• Private World: psychological dimensions of intimate and personal experience where
an individual is likely to have a sense of identity (self, intimate people, feelings,
thoughts, etc.)
• Ideal World: spiritual dimension of beliefs and aspirations where an individual is
likely to refer to values beyond himself/herself (ideology, religiousness, myths,
philosophy, etc.)
Analysing these dimensions helps the clients to recognise and gain clarity about their
assumptions about the world, theirs values and personal talents. In this way, they will
increase respectively the ability to make sense of reality, the ability to make life worthwhile,
the ability to make life work in actuality (Emmy van Deurzen-Smith, 1988 in Parkkinen and
Puukari, 2005).
In the second paradigm the authors propose two dimensions in which individuals can
orientate themselves for pursuing the ‘good life’ (Kotkajärvi & Nyyssönen, 1996):
• Culturalism-Naturalism: it represents a continuum between the role of human
interactions and the satisfaction of personal needs like hunger, nurture and so on;

6. 6
• Essentialism-Existentialism: it represents a continuum between the actualising of
common qualities and the self-determination.
The analysis of these dimensions gives to counsellors a general view about perceiving life
and relationship to other people and cultures of client.
Finally, the combination of these two frameworks is such to produce an even more
comprehensive and richer conceptual framework to be used in counselling.
4. Attempt of integrating Peirce and Bateson´s theories at the approaching
worldviews in multicultural counseling
In the process of multicultural counselling the approaching worldviews (Parkkinen and
Puukari, 2005) is a method quite comprehensive and well structured. Considering the
accounts of Peirce and Bateson it is possible to strengthen this method with some useful
awareness for the counsellor. First of all the concept of infinite semiosis confirms the
universal character of culture. Individuals as interpretant of signs are carriers of their own
culture and this means that counsellor-client counselling is “always” a multicultural process
because the two subjects necessarily represent different cultures. Moreover the culture of the
client is not just something that belongs to his past but it is also something that is being
shaped in the present relationship with the counsellor.
Bateson’s worldview explains how the world of ideas is a flow continuously evolving
and strongly connected with the present context. Therefore, in the process of getting to know
his client, the counsellor should count his active role in the evolution of the worldview of the
client. For example, when the counsellor asks the client to express his worldview, indicating
in which point of the essentialism-existentialism dimension he feels that he perceives himself,
due to the complexity of the dimension it is quite common that the counsellor will have to
describe the concept giving meaning to this dimension and consequently influencing the
interpretation of the dimension by the client and maybe his answer. In other words the
interaction between counsellor and clients is not out of the process of counselling and should
be itself an object of analysis.
This is a clear example of social constructivism that Parkkinen and Puukari (2005) take
in to account when they mention Peavy (1999) regarding the fact that reality is created and
constructed in communities and different communities may have different realities.
Finally, a further proof of the effect of infinite semiotic and evolution concept in the
counselling process can be the awareness that phenomena like globalization and

7. 7
technological development can be the cause of changing and can also influence the four
dimensions (Parkkinen and Puukari, 2005).
5. Conclusion
Culture is based on ideas. In this essay we have seen that for the concept of infinite semiosis
ideas can be generated infinitely from individuals. Moreover, ideas are the product of the
evolution of individual with the outer world. Although the approaching worldview is a
method developed for the multicultural counselling it is very appropriate to adopt it in all
counsellor-client relationships. Furthermore it is essential that counsellors are aware of the
dynamic character of culture for understanding that the worldview of the client is not a
statement but a process that is constantly evolving. Hence the approaching worldview should
be used like an instrument of knowledge taking in to consideration all the dynamics of the
human thought.

8. 8
References:
Atkin, A., (2005). “Peirce On The Index and Indexical Reference”. Transactions of The Charles S.
Peirce Society. 41 (1), 161–188.
Atkin, Albert, (2013). "Peirce's Theory of Signs", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer
2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/peirce-semiotics/>.
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Ballantine.
Cornish, J. A. E. ; Schreier, B. A. ; Nadkarni, L. I. ; Metzger, L. H. ; Rodolfa, E.R. (2010). Handbook
of Multicultural Counseling Competencies. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. (ebrary)
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York: Basic Books.
Jung, C. G. (1989). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Rev. ed., C. Winston & R. Winston, Trans. A.
Jaffe, Ed. New York: Random House, Inc.
Korzybski A., (1931). "A Non-Aristotelian System and its Necessity for Rigour in Mathematics and
Physics", a paper presented before the meeting of the “American Association for the
Advancement of Science”, December 28, 1931. Reprinted in Science and Sanity, 1933, p. 747–
61.
Launikari, M & Puukari, S. (Eds) 2005. Multicultural guidance and counselling. Theoretical
foundations and best practices in Europe. University of Jyvaskyla.
http://www.cimo.fi/instancedata/prime_product_julkaisu/cimo/embeds/cimowwwstructure/156
22_multicultural_guidance_and_counselling.pdf
Mcleod, J. (2009). Introduction to Counselling (4th
Edition). Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University
Press. (ebrary)
Peirce, C. S. (1933) Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce ; edited by Charles Hartshorne and
Paul Weiss. Cambridge (Mass.)