For Bateson, metaphor, not classification, is the logic upon which the biological world is built. The logic of metaphor identifies and connects all living processes rather than defining classes. In contrast, classical logic is only possible through language and ultimately limited because of its dependence on language, unavoidably structured by the discontinuous nature of description or “naming”. Bateson described epistemology not only as a tautology, an abstract system making sense in our own terms, but as natural history or the interface between map and territory. Bateson felt that one of the first steps to new ways of thinking about nature was to look at the limitations of any act of description

Kendrick Anne, 2002. Caribou co-management in northern Canada : forstering multiple ways of knowing. In: Berkes F., Colding J and Folke, C. editors. Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Building Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.