Varela F. J. (1995) The re-enchantment of the concrete: Some biological ingredients for a nouvelle cognitive science. In: Steels L. & Brooks R. (eds.) The Artificial Life route to Artificial Intelligence: Building Embodied, Situated Agents. Lawrence Erlbaum, New Haven: 11–20. https://cepa.info/1996
Varela F. J.
(
1995)
The re-enchantment of the concrete: Some biological ingredients for a nouvelle cognitive science.
In: Steels L. & Brooks R. (eds.) The Artificial Life route to Artificial Intelligence: Building Embodied, Situated Agents. Lawrence Erlbaum, New Haven: 11–20.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/1996
Wheeler M. (1995) Escaping from the Cartesian mind-set: Heidegger and artificial life. In: Morán F., Moreno A. J., Merelo J. & Chacon P. (eds.) Advances in artificial life. Springer, Berlin: 65–76. https://cepa.info/2945
Wheeler M.
(
1995)
Escaping from the Cartesian mind-set: Heidegger and artificial life.
In: Morán F., Moreno A. J., Merelo J. & Chacon P. (eds.) Advances in artificial life. Springer, Berlin: 65–76.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/2945
In this paper, I propose a neo-Heideggerian framework for A-Life. Following an explanation of some key Heideggerian ideas, I endorse the view that persistent problems in orthodox cognitive science result from a commitment to a Cartesian subject-object divide. Heidegger rejects the primacy of the subject-object dichotomy; and I set about the task of showing how, by adopting a Heideggerian view, A-Life can avoid the problems that have plagued cognitive science. This requires that we extend the standard Heideggerian frame-work by introducing the notion of a biological background, a set of evolutionarily determined practices which structure the norms of animal worlds. I argue that optimality/ESS models in behavioural ecology provide a set of tools for identifying these norms, and, to secure this idea, I defend a form of adaptationism against enactivist worries. Finally, I show how A-Life can assist in the process of mapping out biological backgrounds, and how recent dynamical systems approaches in A-Life fit in with the neo-Heideggerian conceptual framework.
Wolfe C. (1995) In search of post-humanist theory: The second-order cybernetics of Maturana and Varela. Cultural Critique 30: 33–70. https://cepa.info/2767
Wolfe C.
(
1995)
In search of post-humanist theory: The second-order cybernetics of Maturana and Varela.
Cultural Critique 30: 33–70.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/2767
Zeleny M. (1995) Ecosocieties: Societal aspects of biological self-production. Soziale Systeme 1(2): 179–202. https://cepa.info/1205
Zeleny M.
(
1995)
Ecosocieties: Societal aspects of biological self-production.
Soziale Systeme 1(2): 179–202.
Fulltext at https://cepa.info/1205
All living systems, e.g., cells, organisms, groups, and species (including humans) are tied together in communication networks (social systems) as well as into a hypernetwork of all social systems. Their interaction forms the entire terrestrial biosphere or Gaia, a social system akin to the unified organism of a living cell, which itself is a social system of its constitutive organelles. Connecting different species into a coherent, interactive, and self-organizing system cannot happen without death and birth (autopoiesis) – the fuel of environmental adaptation. The natural death of species does not signal maladaptability of the species, but harmony, adaptability, and systemic perseverance of the social network of species. Death is a cosmological event – the most exquisite assurance of life yet to be. Relevance: This paper strongly relates to the theory of autopoietic systems based on the work of Maturana, Varela and Uribe.