[3][4] Today Wilden's work (and consequent reputation) is arguably more influential in the fields of communication theory, ecology and social interaction.
These fields of study evolved out of a long scholarly tradition of "interactional semiotics" that originated with Plato's Cratylus.
Along with such figures as Gregory Bateson (i.e., Steps to an Ecology of Mind), R. D. Laing (i.e., Sanity, Madness and the Family), and Walker Percy (i.e., Lost in the Cosmos), Wilden is considered one of this tradition's contemporary (modern and postmodern) pioneers.
[8] Through his teaching and writings, Wilden provided "a contribution to our 'knowledge about knowledge' at an abstract level, as well as supplying ammunition in the struggle with the concrete reality that information is power and that scientific discourse is a hidden weapon in the arsenal of social control.
"[2] Wilden is also recognized today for his significant contributions to Context theory and Second-order cybernetics.