Table Of ContentChaotic Logic
Language, Thought, and Reality
from the Perspective of
Complex Systems Science
International Federation for Systems Research
International Series on Systems Science and Engineering
Series Editor: George J. Klir
State University of New York at Binghamton
Editorial Board
Gerrit Broekstra Ivan M. Havel
Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Charles University, i'"rague,
The Netherlands Czech Republic
John L. Casti Manfred Peschel
Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico Academy of Sciences, Berlin, Germany
Brian Gaines Franz Pichler
University of Calgary, Canada University of Linz, Austria
Volume 7 FACETS OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE
George J. Klir
Volume 8 THE ALTERNATNE MATHEMATICAL MODEL. OF
UNGUlSTIC SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS
Vilem Novak
Volume 9 CHAOTIC LOGIC: Language, Thought, and Reillity from the
Perspective of Complex Systems Science
Ben Goertzel
IFSR was established "to stimulate all activities associated with the scientific study IOf systems and to
coordinate such activities at intemationallevel." The aim of this series is to stimulate publication of
high-quality monographs and textbooks on various topics of systems science and ellgineering. TIlls
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Volumes 1--6 were published by Pergamon Press.
Chaotic Logic
Language, Thought, and Reality
from the Perspective of
Complex Systems Science
Ben Goertzel
University of Waikato
Hamilton, New Zealand
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data
Goertzel, Ben.
Chaotic logic language, thought, and reality from the
perspective of complex systems science / Ben Goertzel.
p. em. -- (IFSR international series on systems science and
engineering; v. 9)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. System theory. 2. Order-disorder models. 3. Chaotic behavior
in systems. 4. Philosophy of mind. 5. Cognitive science.
6. Computational co.plexity. I. Title. II. Series.
Q295.G64 1994
003' .7--dc20 93-46650
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4419-3238-9 ISBN 978-1-4757-2197-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-2197-3
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1994.
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1s t edition 1994
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the Publisher.
Logic ... an imperative, not to know the true, but to posit and arrange
a world that shall be called true by us.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
PREFACE
This book summarizes a network of interrelated ideas which I have
developed, off and on, over the past eight or ten years. The underlying theme
is the psychological interplay of order and chaos. Or, to put it another way,
the interplay of deduction and induction. I will try to explain the relationship
between logical, orderly, conscious, rule-following reason and fluid, self
organizing, habit-governed, unconscious, chaos-infused intuition.
My previous two books, The Structure of Intelligence and The Evolving
Mind, briefly touched on this relationship. But these books were primarily
concerned with other matters: SI with constructing a formal language for
discussing mentality and its mechanization, and EM with exploring the role of
evolution in thought. They danced around the edges of the order/chaos
problem, without ever fully entering into it.
My goal in writing this book was to go directly to the core of mental
process, "where angels fear to tread" -- to tackle all the sticky issues which it
is considered prudent to avoid: the nature of consciousness, the relation
between mind and reality, the justification of belief systems, the connection
between creativity and mental illness,.... All of these issues are dealt with here
in a straightforward and unified way, using a combination of concepts from my
previous work with ideas from chaos theory and complex systems science.
My approach to the mind does not fall into any of the standard "schools
of thought." But neither does it stand completely apart from the contemporary
scientific and intellectual scene. Rather, I draw on ideas from a variety of
disciplines, and a host of conflicting thinkers. These ideas are then
synthesized with original conceptions, to obtain a model that, while,
fundamentally novel, has many points of contact with familiar ideas. Perhaps
the most obvious connections are with Kampis' s (1991) component -system
theory, Edelman's (1987) theory of neuronal group selection, Nietzsche's
(1968) late philosophy of mind, Chaitin's (1988) algorithmic information
theory, Whorfs (1948) well-known analysis of linguistic thought, and the
dynamical psychology of Ralph and Fred Abraham (1992). But there are
many other important connections as well.
vii
Vlll PREFACE
The ideas of this book range wide over the conceptual map; indeed, the
selection of topics may appear to the reader to obey a very chaotic logic. And
the intended audience is almost equally wide. The ideas contained here should
be thought-provoking not only to theoretical psychologists and general systems
theorists, but also to anyone with an interest in artificial intelligence, applied
mathematics, social science, biology, philosophy or human personality.
Unfortunately, the nature of the material is such that certain sections of the
book will not be easy going for the general reader. However, I have done my
best to minimize the amount of technical terminology, and I have flagged with
(*),s those few sections containing a significant amount of formalism. These
sections can be skipped without tremendous loss of understanding.
In sum, I am well aware that this book will draw criticism for its
ambitious choice of topic. I also realize that my approach defies the norms of
every academic discipline (sometimes quietly, sometimes ostentatiously).
However, I believe that one must follow one's scientific intuition where it
leads. All that I ask of you, as a reader, is that you consider the ideas given
here based on their own intrinsic merits, rather than how "orthodox" or
"unorthodox" they may appear.
The symbiosis between logic and intuition is a very tricky thing;
perhaps the subtlest phenomenon we humans have ever tried to comprehend.
In order to make progress toward an understanding of this strange, fundamental
symbiosis, we must summon all our powers of analysis and imagination -- and
check our preconceptions at the door.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The ideas presented here were developed as a solo project. There was
very little collaborative thinking involved, and what little there was involved
peripheral issues. Over the years, however, many people, institutions and
organizations have helped my work in less direct ways.
First of all, a few sections of this book overlap significantly with
previously published articles. Thanks are due to the relevant editors and
publishers for their permission to duplicate the odd section, page or paragraph
here. The Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, Volume 15-1, edited
by Paul Levinson, contains the papers "Psychology and Logic" and "Self
Reference, Computation and Mind" which overlap considerably with Chapter
4 and Section 7.3 respectively. Paul Levinson is an excellent editor who has
been very supportive of my work. The Proceedings of the First, Second and
Third Annual Conferences of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology,
edited by Robin Robertson and Allan Combs (to be published shortly by
Erlbaum, perhaps with a more felicitous title), contains the papers "A
Cognitive Equation of Motion" and "Belief Systems as Attractors," which
overlap with parts of Chapters Eight and Nine.
Next there are more personal acknowledgements. My previous two
books did not include "acknowledgements" sections, so the thanks given here
apply not only to Chaotic Logic but also to its prequels: The Structure of
Intelligence (Springer-Verlag, 1993), and The Evolving Mind (Gordon and
Breach, 1993).
In no particular order, I would like to acknowledge debts of one kind
or another to:
Simon's Rock College, which I attended from 1982-85 and where I was
introduced to Nietzsche, Whorf, Peirce, formal logic, dynamical systems theory
and the philosophy of science, among many other things. My unorthodox
approach to intellectual work owes a lot to two Simon's Rock instructors,
George Mandeville and Ed Misch, and also to the remarkably intelligent group
of students who were my classmates at the Rock: Dave Goldberg, Bill
Meinhardt, John Hancock, Mike Glanzberg, Scott Hughes, Ed Keller, Ken
Silverman, Mike Duncan, etc. etc.
IX
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The mathematics faculty of Temple University. In particular, Donald
Newman supported me at every stage of the arduous process of obtaining a
Ph.D. in Mathematics.
Those few members of the UNL V Mathematics department who, while
I was at UNL V, supported me in my unusual choice of research topics: Harold
Bowman, Malwane Ananda, Rohan Dalpatadu, Ashok Singh and George Miel.
The computer science department of Waikato University, where I am
currently lecturing, particularly Lloyd Smith, the former department head, who
made my schedule for this year! This book was written in Las Vegas but it
was proofread and (egads!) printed in Hamilton; if it has fewer errors than my
previous books this is because of the research-friendly New Zealand work
schedule.
Fred Abraham, Sally Goerner, Larry Vandervert, Robin Robertson,
Allan Combs and Terry Marks, all affiliated with the Society for Chaos Theory
in Psychology, for being so supportive of my work (and also for helping me
to improve my sometimes too-dense exposition). Thanks especially to Sally
and Allan.
My mother Carol Goertzel and my grandfather Leo Zwell for their
unflagging warmth and encouragement; also my father, Ted Goertzel, for his
encouragement and for reading and critiquing my manuscripts despite their
distance from his areas of expertise.
George Klir and George Kampis for placing my book in this series.
And finally, my son Zarathustra, my wife Gwen, and my brand new
son Zebulon, for providing a warm, comfortable atmosphere in which to think,
write and live.
Ben Goertzel
Hamilton, New Zealand
April 1994
