Purpose: To show the convergences between Josef Mitterer’s non-dualizing way of speaking and actor-network theory. Method: Comparative analysis of Mitterer’s non-dualizing philosophy and actor-network philosophy. Findings: Profound convergences between the two accounts may lead to a unified account that could redefine traditional philosophical problems. Benefits: The paper extends the range of Mitterer’s non-dualizing philosophy and actor-network theory enabling both to face new problems. Among them, extended non-dualizing philosophy may undergo empirical investigations.

Key words: so far descriptions, from now on descriptions, dualism, actor-network theory

Purpose: Appreciating the relationship between Sylvio Ceccato and Ernst von Glasersfeld, both as people and in their work. Approach: historical and personal accounts, archeological approach to written evidence. Findings: Ceccato’s work is introduced to an English speaking audience, and the roots of Glasersfeld’s work in Ceccato’s is explored. Flaws in Ceccato’s approach are indicated, together with how Glasersfeld’s work overcomes these, specially in language and automatic translation, and what became Radical Constructivism. Conclusion: Glasersfeld willingly acknowledges Ceccato, who he still refers to as the Master. But Ceccato’s work is little known, specially in the English speaking world. The introduction, critique and delineation of extension and resolution of Ceccato’s ideas in Glasersfeld’s work is the intended value of the paper.

Key words: philosophy, language, correlational grammar, Italian Operational School, attention/mind, mental operation, Ernst von Glasersfeld, Silvio Ceccato

Purpose – Complexity is the real beast that baffles everybody. Though there are increasing inter-disciplinary discussions on it, yet it is scantly explored. The purpose of this paper is to bring a new and unique dimension to the discourse assimilating the important ideas of two towering scientists of their time, Newton and Heinz von Foerster. In the tradition of Foersterian second-order cybernetics the paper attempts to build a bridge from a cause-effect thinking to a thinking oriented towards “understanding understanding” and in the process presents a model of “Cybernetics of Simplification” indicating a path to simplicity from complexity. Design/methodology/approach – The design of research in the paper is exploratory and the paper takes a multidisciplinary approach. The model presented in the paper builds on analytics and systemics at the same time. Findings: Simplicity can be seen in complex systems or situations if one can construct the reality (be that the current one that is being experienced or perceived or the future one that is being desired or envisaged) through the Cybernetics of Simplification model, establishing the effect-cause-and-effect and simultaneously following the frame of iterate and infer as a circular feedback loop; in the tradition of cybernetics of cybernetics. Research limitations/implications – It is yet to be applied. Practical implications: The model in the paper seems to have far reaching implications for complex problem solving and enhancing understanding of complex situations and systems. Social implications – The paper has potential to provoke new ideas and new thinking among scholars of complexity. Originality/value – The paper presents an original idea in terms of Cybernetics of Simplification building on the cybernetics of the self-observing system. The value lies in the unique perspective that it brings to the cybernetics discussions on complexity and simplification.

Key words: causality, complexity, second-order cybernetics, cybernetics of simplification, self-observing system, simplification

This paper undertakes a theoretical investigation of the “learning” aspect of science as opposed to the “knowledge” aspect. The practical background of the paper is in agricultural systems research – an area of science that can be characterised as “systemic” because it is involved in the development of its own subject area, agriculture. And the practical purpose of the theoretical investigation is to contribute to a more adequate understanding of science in such areas, which can form a basis for developing and evaluating systemic research methods, and for determining appropriate criteria of scientific quality. Two main perspectives on science as a learning process are explored: research as the learning process of a cognitive system, and science as a social, communicational system. A simple model of a cognitive system is suggested, which integrates both semiotic and cybernetic aspects, as well as a model of self-reflective learning in research, which entails moving from an inside “actor” stance to an outside “observer” stance, and back. This leads to a view of scientific knowledge as inherently contextual and to the suggestion of reflexive objectivity and relevance as two related key criteria of good science.

Key words: Agriculture, cognition, communication, experiential, learning, research, science, self-reflective, systemic

The major purpose of this study was to investigate factors and challenges that hindered effective teaching of mathematics for understanding in senior secondary schools in the Omusati Education Region in Namibia. The study investigated how the participants dealt with identified challenges in the mathematics classrooms in selected senior secondary schools. Further, the study attempted to establish necessary support and / or training opportunities that mathematics teachers might need to ensure effective application of teaching mathematics for understanding in their regular classrooms. The sample was made up of eight senior secondary schools out of the population of 12 senior secondary schools in the Omusati Education Region. The schools were selected from the school circuits using maximum variation and random sampling techniques. Twenty out of 32 mathematics teachers from eight selected senior secondary schools in the Omusati Education Region responded to the interviews and two lessons per participant were observed. Interviews and observations were used to collect data from the 20 senior secondary school mathematics teachers with respect to teaching mathematics for understanding. Frequency tables, pie charts and bar graphs were used to analyze the data collected. The results indicated that teaching for understanding was little observed in mathematics classrooms. Part of the challenges identified were, overcrowded classrooms, lack of teaching and learning resources, lack of support from advisory teachers, and automatic promotions, among others. Mathematics teachers needed induction programmes, in-service training opportunities, and advisory services amongst others in order to be able to teach mathematics effectively. The study recommended that teaching for understanding should be researched in all subjects in Namibian classrooms and should be made clearly understood by all teachers in order to be able to use and apply it during their teaching. New teachers should be provided with induction programmes to give them support and tools at the beginning of their teaching careers. Further research on teaching for understanding should be conducted in other school subjects in Namibia in order to ensure teaching for understanding across the curriculum.

Key words: teaching, understanding.

This paper has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it suggests ways of making autopoietic theory more precise and more operational for concrete communication analysis. I discuss concepts such as distinction, system, bound- ary, environment, perturbation, and compen- sation. The explication of the concepts is ba- sed on catastrophe theory, and in order to make them operational I emphasise their affinity to traditional semiotics and communi- cation theory. On the other hand I propose changes to the semiotic tradition in order to incorporate insights from autopoietic theory, namely that the human condition is characte- rised by the phenomenon of self-reference and therefore also by the unavoidability of para- doxes. Firstly, this means that truth cannot be a basic semiotic concept; instead the notion of stability is suggested. Secondly, in order to act in a paradoxical context, we need to unfold the paradox in time, which again calls for a dynamic theory of meaning.

Purpose – Attention is drawn to a principle of “significance feedback” in neural nets that was devised in the encouraging ambience of the Biological Computer Laboratory and is arguably fundamental to much of the subsequent practical application of artificial neural nets. Design/methodology/approach – The background against which the innovation was made is reviewed, as well as subsequent developments. It is emphasised that Heinz von Foerster and BCL made important contributions prior to their focus on second-order cybernetics. Findings: The version of “significance feedback” denoted by “backpropagation of error” has found numerous applications, but in a restricted field, and the relevance to biology is uncertain. Practical implications: Ways in which the principle might be extended are discussed, including attention to structural changes in networks, and extension of the field of application to include conceptual processing. Originality/value – The original work was 40 years ago, but indications are given of questions that are still unanswered and avenues yet to be explored, some of them indicated by reference to intelligence as “fractal.”

Key words: cybernetics, neural nets, learning.

Purpose – An attempt was made to establish a link between brief therapy a’ la MRI and Heinz von Foerster’s view of how we might conceive of and live in the world of our creation, at least in a social sense. Design/methodology/approach – The author relates how her encounter with Heinz von Foerster coincided with and further developed a way of thinking about and doing therapy which she found at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, California. She tries to show how Heinz the person has had a lasting effect on the way she conceives of and tries to conduct Brief Therapy a’ la MRI. Findings: She finds that using Heinz’s metaphor of dancing with the world quite useful in the elucidation of what therapy might be all about: how it might, metaphorically speaking, simply be about engaging a client or clients by dancing with them, allowing for the mutual creation of a new possibility. Originality/value – This paper was written to commemorate Heinz and for therapists in search of a therapeutic stance.

Key words: Cybernetics, therapists, philosophical concepts.

The intended study is to reveal the importance of values in the process of constructing our implicit knowledge. There is a strong connection between emotions and knowledge and this relationship appears especially in the process of evaluation. Our approach describes knowledge as more intuitive and emotional and unconscious than is traditionally proclaimed. It serves especially practical and useful purpose and our former experience is its foundation. As we evaluate the world which we get to know, our system of knowledge contains also its meaning for us, our value system is hidden in it and it influences our further conduct. Our activity is the aim of our life, through which we cause changes in the world as well as in us.

Key words: value, evaluation, implicit knowledge, constructivism, emotions, knowledge, activity.

Excerpt: The purpose of this essay is to clarify some of the important senses in which the relationship between the brain and the computer might be considered as one of “modeling.” It also considers the meaning of “simulation” in the relationships between models, computers and brains. While there has been a fairly broad literature emerging on models and simulations in science, these have primarily focused on the physical sciences, rather than the mind and brain. And while the cognitive sciences have often invoked concepts of modeling and simulation, they have been frustratingly inconsistent in their use of these terms, and the implicit relations to their scientific roles. My approach is to consider the early convolution of brain models and computational models in cybernetics, with the aim of clarifying their significance for more current debates in the cognitive sciences. It is my belief that clarifying the historical senses in which the brain and computer serve as models of each other in the historical period prior to the birth of AI and cognitive science is a crucial task for an archeology of AI and the history of cognitive science.