Causality, Meaningful Complexity and Embodied Cognition (Theory and Decision Library A: )

346 Pages·2010·3.355 MB·English

by  Carsetti, Arturo(Editor)

Causality, Meaningful Complexity
and Embodied Cognition
THEORY AND DECISION LIBRARY
General Editor: Julian Nida-Rümelin (Universita¨tMu¨nchen)
Series A:Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences
Series B:Mathematical and Statistical Methods
Series C:Game Theory,Mathematical Programming and Operations Research
SERIES A:PHILOSOPHY AND METHODOLOGY
OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
VOLUME 46
Assistant Editor: Martin Rechenauer (Universita¨tMu¨nchen)
Editorial Board:Raymond Boudon (Paris),Mario Bunge (Montréal),Isaac Levi (New York),
Richard V.Mattessich (Vancouver),Bertrand Munier (Cachan),Amartya K.Sen (Cambridge),
Brian Skyrms (Irvine),Wolfgang Spohn (Konstanz)
Scope: This series deals with the foundations,the general methodology and the criteria,
goals and purpose ofthe social sciences.The emphasis in the Series A will be on well-argued,
thoroughly analytical rather than advanced mathematical treatments. In this context,
particular attention will be paid to game and decision theory and general philosophical topics
from mathematics,psychology and economics,such as game theory,voting and welfare
theory,with applications to political science,sociology,law and ethics.
For other titles published in this series, go to
www.springer.com/series/6616
A. Carsetti
Editor
Causality, Meaningful
Complexity and Embodied
Cognition
123
Editor
Prof.A.Carsetti
UniversitàdiRoma-TorVergata
FacoltàdiLettereeFilosofia
ViaColumbia,1
00133Roma
Italy
ISBN978-90-481-3528-8 e-ISBN978-90-481-3529-5
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-3529-5
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
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Acknowledgements
This book too like others I have edited, owes its existence to many sources. First
of all I would like to express my deep appreciation to Julian Nida Ru¨melin. He
encouragedme to edit this bookand I havebenefited fromsome discussionswith
him on the occasion of the International Colloquium on “Causality, Meaningful
Complexity and Knowledge Construction” (Rome, 2008). I am very grateful to
Charles Erkelens who examined and approved the first project of the book. I am
also grateful to Elisabeth Leinfellner for her invaluable help in introducingme in
theartof“shepherd”thedifferentchaptersinavolume.
IamindebtedtomycollaboratorsAndreaCataldi,Pia’tLamandEnricaVizzinisi
for their help at the editoriallevel. I would like, in particular,to thankLucy Fleet
of Springer for her editorial comments and suggestions which contributed to the
qualityofthepresentationofthebook.
Mydeepthankstotheauthorsfortheirco-operationand,onceagain,tomystu-
dentsattheUniversityofRome“TorVergata”fortheirstimulusandtheirpatience.
ManythanksalsototheresearchersworkingattheleveloftheNationalProjectof
Research“Measuresofepistemiccomplexityandknowledgeconstruction”(MIUR,
2006)and,inparticular,toMariaCarlaGalavotti,SergioGalvanandRobertoFesta,
fortheirtechnicalsupportandinvaluablefriendship.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Franz Wuketits, Werner
Leinfellner, Stephen Grossberg, Henri Atlan, Giuseppe Longo, Johann Go¨tschl
and Jean Petitot: I have greatly benefited from discussions with them about some
specific guidelines concerning the organization of those particular International
Colloquia of La Nuova Critica that constitute the conceptual “skeleton” of the
volume. I will always remember the late Gaetano Kanizsa, Vittorio Somenzi and
ValerioToninifortheirhelpandtheirteaching.Theyhavebeenenormouslyhelpful
tomeinthinkingabouttheissuesconcerningmeaningfulcomplexityandembodied
cognition.
v
Introduction
ArturoCarsetti
According to molecular Biology, true invariance (life) can exist only within the
frameworkofongoingautonomousmorphogenesisandviceversa.Withrespectto
this secret dialectics, life and cognition appear as indissolubly interlinked. In this
sense,forinstance,theinnerarticulationofconceptualspacesappearstobelinked
toaninnerfunctionaldevelopmentbasedonacontinuousactivityofselectionand
“anchorage”realised on semantic grounds. It is the work of “invention”and gen-
eration(ininvariance),linkedwiththe“rooting”ofmeaning,whichdeterminesthe
evolution,theleapsandpunctuatedequilibria,theconditionsrelatedtotheunfold-
ingofnewmodalitiesofinvariance,aninvariancewhichisneversimplerepetition
and which springs on each occasion through deep-level processes of renewal and
recovery.Theselectionperpetratedbymeaningrevealsitsautonomyaboveallinits
underpinning,inanobjectiveway,theongoingchoiceofthesenewmodalities.As
suchitisnot,then,concernedonlywiththegameof“possibles”,offeringitselfas
asimplechannelforpurechance,butwithprovidingachannelforthearticulation
ofthe“file”inthehumusofasemantic(andembodied)netinordertopreparethe
necessaryconditionsforacontinuousrenewalandrecoveryoforiginalcreativity.In
effect, it is this autonomyin inventingnew possible modulesof incompressibility
whichdeterminestheactualemergenceofnew(andtrue)creativity,whichalsotakes
placethroughthe“narration”oftheeffectedconstruction.PaceKant,atthelevelof
abiologicalcognitivesystemsensibilityisnotasimpleinterfacebetweenabsolute
chanceandaninvariantintellectualorder.Onthecontrary,thereferenceprocedures,
ifsuccessful,areabletomodulatecanalizationandcreatethebasisfortheappear-
ance of ever-new frames of incompressibility through morphogenesis.This is not
aquestionofdiscoveringandexploring(according,forinstance,toPutnam’scon-
ception)new“territories”,butofofferingourselvesasthematrixandarchthrough
which they can spring autonomouslyin accordance with ever increasing levels of
complexity. There is no casual autonomous process already in existence, and no
possibleselectionandsynthesisactivityviaapossible“remnant”throughreference
A.Carsetti((cid:2))
UniversityofRome“TorVergata”,V.Columbian.1,00199Rome,Italy
e-mail:[email protected]
vii
viii A.Carsetti
proceduresconsideredasa formofsimpleregimentation.Theseproceduresarein
actual fact functional to the construction and irruption of new incompressibility:
meaning,asFormaformans,offersthepossibilityofcreatingaholisticanchorage,
andisexactlywhatallowsthecategorialapparatustoemergeandactaccordingto
acoherent“arborization”.Thenewinvention,whichisbornthenshapesandopens
the(new)eyesofthemind:Iseeasamindbecausenewmeaningisabletoarticulate
andtakerootthroughme.
Inthissense,atthehumanlevelvisionextendswithinacoupledsystemcharac-
terisedbythepresenceoftwodifferentselectiveforces:theselectionlinkedtothe
fullexpressionoftheoriginalincompressibility,ontheonehand,andtheselection
performedwithinanambientmeaning,ontheotherhand(thisisapointoffactwe
arenowreadytoexamineinthelightofcurrentachievementsincontemporarytheo-
reticalBiology).Withintheprocess,meaningrevealsitself(albeitpartially)in(and
through)the effected emergence.Only in this way can a real assimilation process
articulate, on the basis first of all of a coherent construction of possible schemes,
self-organisingmodels,falsificationacts, andso on.Inself-organisingemergence,
then,wefind,simultaneously,aprocessofassimilation,oneofgrowth,oneof“in-
scription”andoneofstabilisationthroughfixedpoints.Itisthereforenotsurprising
that,assoonastheassimilation(andtheunfoldingbyunificationatthebrainlevel)
ofmeaningoccurscorrectly,visionappearsveridical.Whatthisparticularlypresup-
poses as an essential componentof the process is also the articulated presence of
definitecapacitiesofself-reflectionandprecisereplication-mechanismsatthelevel
of vision bymodels.If it is, actually,obviousthatno thoughtcan exist whichhas
not first filtered through the senses, it is equally clear that there can be no effec-
tive vision, at the level of the model, unless specific elaboration has taken place
able to “coagulate” the activity of “internal” selection. The outline offered by the
modelservesfirstofalltoproposepossibleintegrationschemesabletosupportand
primethenestingpropertothe“internal”selection.Atthemomentofthecomplete
realisation of the embodiment,new vision by models emerges, and the outline as
independentinstrument is abandoned because superseded. In this sense, it is true
thatattheleveloftheeyesofthemindwefinallyhavevisual(andveridical)cog-
nition,andnotintellectualreading.Functionandmeaningarticulatetogether,butin
accordancewiththedevelopmentofaprocessofadequatio,andnotofautonomous
and directcreation. I will be unable to think of vision duringemergence,but will
be able to use it, once realised, to construct furtherforms of embodiedcognition.
Growth,modulation,and successive integrationthusexist ‘withinand among’the
channelstogetherwithspecificdifferentiationprocesses.
Thisprocesscanthengraduallyrecogniseitselfintherealisedemergenceasan
actofvisionconcerningtheemergenceitself.Inthiswayatimeofinventioncanbe
assured, but not a time of repetition: a time characterised by a specific process of
renewalandrecoverywhichcontinuouslyrevealsitselfaspossibleinproportionto
theeffectiverealisationofthe“work”performedatthelevelofteleonomicalactiv-
ities.Whatdeterminestheongoingselectioneachtime(withrespecttotheprimary
informationalfluxes) is the new incompressibilitywhich arises. This requiresthat
thereferenceprocedurespositthemselvesasanarchbetweeninvariance,ontheone
Introduction ix
hand, and autonomousmorphogenesison the other. In other words, they are only
abletonurturenewincompressibilitywherethereexistsaprocessofnestingofpure
virtuality’soriginalspace.Theimportantaspectisnot,then,theremnantinse but
the successful “narration”.It is the effective and embodied inscription giving rise
tonewincompressibilitywhichnecessarilybypassesme.Iwill,then,ultimatelybe
abletothinkofa newincompressibilitywhichrevealsitself astheongoingfusion
ofemergentnucleiofcreativitywithintheunityofanoperantmeaning.
It is far fromeasy to determinemathematicsfor processes of the kind, since it
isclearlyimpossibletorestricttheprocessesofself-reflectionandassimilationto-
tally within the limits of a mechanistic reductionism. Actually, the two involved
selectiveforcesarebasedonprinciplesandchoiceswhicharearticulatedonadeep,
productivelevel.Insofarastheseprinciplesandchoicesenterthescene,forexam-
ple,atthesecond-orderlevel,theycannotbepreviouslydeterminedatthefirst-order
level; they are produced by the ongoing dialectics, by the symbolic dynamics in
action and are revealed in emergence, i.e. when they really constitute me as the
subject which sees and thinks. As for self-reflection, the space occupied by these
choices, too, cannot be reductively determined: yet the thread must be untangled
andthe space explored.Themindhasto functionas a bridgebetweenthe two se-
lectiveforces.Thisis theVia-Method,relyingonthe continuousinventionof new
mathematics,newgeometry,newformalaxioms,etc.Hencetheimportanceofthe
eye of the phenomenologist,and in particular of the perceptologist, s/he who lis-
tens to the channels, and hence, at the same time, the importance of the eye of
the mathematician,s/he who exploresthe thread of simulation as well as the path
ofthe purementalconstructions.Amodalcompletion,forinstance,in thiscontext
emergesasaprivilegedwindowopenedonamicrocosmwhichislargelyarticulated
accordingtothefibrespropertothearchitectureofthemind.Objectsareidentified
throughthequalitieselaboratedandcalculatedalongandthroughthechannels.The
functionthus constructed that self-organisestogetherwith its meaning(in Atlan’s
words)permitsamorecoherentintegrationandarticulationofthechannels,laying
thefoundationfortheself-organisedsynthesisofever-newneuralcircuits.Objects,
intheirqualityofbeingimmersedintherealworld,thenemergeasrelatedtoother
objects possessing different features, and so on. Through and beyond these inter-
relations, holistic properties and dimensions gradually reveal themselves, which I
must grasp in order to see the objects with their meaning, if I am to understand
themeaningofthings.Applesexistnotinisolation,butasobjectsonatable,ona
tree:theyare,forinstance,inQuine’swords,‘immersedinred’,arealityIcanonly
graspbymeansofacomplicatedsecond-orderprocessofanalysis,elaboration,and
comparisonwhichcanthereafterbereduced,throughconcatenationsofhorizontal
and verticalconstraints, specific rules and the successive determinationof precise
fixedpoints,tothefirst-orderlevel.Ithusneedconstantintegrationofchannelsand
formalinstrumentstograspinformationofthekind,i.e.toassimilatestructuraland
holisticrelationsandrelativetiesinanadequateway.Inotherwords,Iwillunder-
standthemeaningofthingsonlyifIamabletogivethecorrectcoagulumrecipes
withaviewtotheirbeingselectedsoastograspandcapturenotonlythesuperficial
aspectsofobjectsintheworld,buttheirmutualrelationsastheyinteractindepth,
x A.Carsetti
inobedience,inparticular,toaspecificintensionaldimension.Herewecanrealise,
aswehavejustsaid,theimportanceoftheeyeofthemathematician,s/hewhoex-
ploresthethreadofsimulationandthepathofneuralconstructionsintheregionsof
pureabstraction.Inactualfact,ifIwanttounderstandhowtheassimilationprocess
ofstructuralrelationsworks,I havefirstof allto makeessentialreference,froma
mathematical point of view, to a specific theory of general structures. In the light
ofthistheorytherelationsamongindividualsappear,fromageneralpointofview,
as submittedto a bunchof constraints,specificationsandruleshavinga relational
character, a bunch that is relative to the model which we refer to and which acts
“from the outside” on the successive configurationsof the first-order relations. In
otherwords,as M.Manzanocorrectlystates, in theuniversesofanysecond-order
frame‰ thereareonlyrelationsamongindividuals,butitisnolongertruethatall
then-aryfirst-orderrelationson‰areinto‰.
Thesehiddenrelations,theseparticular“constraints”playacentralrolewithre-
specttothegenesisofourmodels.Inparticular,letusremarkthatasaconsequence
oftheactionperformedbytheseconstraints,thefunctionplayedbytheindividuals
livingintheoriginaluniversebecomesmoreandmorecomplex.Wearenolonger
facedwithaformofmono-dimensionalrelationalgrowthstartingfromagivensetof
individualsandsuccessivelyexploringallthepossiblerelationsamongindividuals,
according to a pre-established surface unfolding of the relational texture. Besides
thiskindofmono-dimensionalgrowth,furthergrowthdimensionsrevealthemselves
atthesecond-orderlevel;specifictypesofdevelopmentthatspringfromthesucces-
sivearticulationoftheoriginalgrowthinaccordancewithawelldefineddialectics.
Asaresultoftheactionoftheruleslyingatthesecond-orderlevel,newdimensions
ofgrowth,newdynamicrelationaltexturesappear.Contemporarilytheoriginaluni-
verseofindividualschanges,newelementsgrowupandtheroleandnatureofthe
ancientelementsundergoaradicaltransformation.Theaforesaiddialecticsreveals
itselfaslinkedtotheutilisationofspecificconceptualtools:limitationprocedures,
identification of fixed points, processes of self-reflection and self-representation,
invention of new frames by “fusion” of previously established structures, coagu-
lum functionsetc. The plotof limitation proceduresandcancellationsof relations
progressively constitutes itself as the gridiron of an intellectual order capable of
allowing for the successive “production”(throughthe arising-irruptionof new in-
compressibility and the successive “inscription”) of specific gestalten, gestalten
which,accordingtoMonod,homethelifeandwhich,ifenlightenedbythetruth,re-
allysupportthedevelopmentofrationalperception.Ifweareabletorecogniseand
followthesecretpathofthisorder,wecanfinallymanagetoilluminatethe“good”
structuresandto“read”(and“play”)theprogressiveembodimentofthatSinnthat
selectivelydeterminestherealconstitutionoftheevents.Meaningfulformswillthen
comeintoplay,findreflectionin a work,andbe seenby an“I” thatcan thuscon-
structitselfandre-emerge,an“I”thatcanfinallyrevealitselfasautonomous:real
cognitionin action. I neither order nor regimentaccordingto principles, nor even
graspprinciples,butpositmyselfastheinstrumentfortheirrecoveryandrecreation,
andreflecttheirsedimentationinmyself-transformationandmyself-proposingas
Cogito.Actually,Ipositmyworkasthemirrorforthenewcanalisation,insucha