Alexander Riegler

• PhD Software Engineering PhD Philosophy
• Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Context • The enactive approach to cognition affirms the relevance of the study of lived experience within cognitive science. > Problem • Taking experience as the phenomenon of investigation, while at the same time recognizing it as a necessary medium of any scientific activity implies theoretical, epistemological, and methodological challenges tha...

Constitutive autonomy is the capacity of an entity to perpetually develop its individual constitution and coupling with its environment. We argue that computational entities (i.e., entities that can perform computation) can gain constitutive autonomy through motorsensory self-programming – a mechanism by which the entity acquires new computational...

Context • In the past three decades, the work of Varela has had an enormous impact on current developments in contemporary science. Problem • Varela’s thought was extremely complex and multifaceted, and while some aspects – notably his contributions to the autopoietic theory of living and enactivist approach to cognition – have gained widespread ac...

In the field of science studies the term "boundary work" is used to describe writings by scientists that distinguish their field from other fields (see also Kline §8). This volume presents the boundary work for second-order cybernetics (SOC) and describes what we believe will be its future scope and dimensions.

Context • By proposing to regard objects as "tokens for eigenbehavior," von Foerster's seminal paper opposes the intuitive subject-object dualism of traditional philosophy, which considers objects to be instances of an external world. Problem • We argue that this proposal has two implications, one for epistemology and one for the demarcation betwee...

Context: More than 20 years ago Varela initiated a research program to advance in the scientific study of consciousness, neurophenomenology. > Problem: Has Varela's neurophenomenology, the solution to the "hard problem," been successful? Which issues remain unresolved, and why? > Method: This introduction sketches the progress that has been made si...

Context Although second-order cybernetics was proposed as a new way of cybernetic investigations around 1970, its general status and its modus operandi are still far from obvious. Problem We want to provide a new perspective on the scope and the currently available potential of second-order cybernetics within today's science landscapes. Method We i...

Context: In the past two decades, the so-called 4E approaches to the mind and cognition have been rapidly gaining in recognition and have become an integral part of various disciplines. > Problem: Recently, however, questions have been raised as to whether, and to what degree, these different approaches actually cohere with one another. Specificall...

Wohl kaum eine Disziplin hat in ihrer Geschichte so viele Versprechungen gemacht und gebrochen wie die Artificial Intelligence (AI). So hat Herbert Simon, einer ihrer Pioniere, 1965 vorausgesagt: „machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work that a man can do“. Versprechungen dieser Art sind zwar nicht in Erfüllung gegangen, hab...

The notions of knowledge and belief play an important role in philosophy. Unfortunately, the literature is not very consistent about defining these notions. Is belief more fundamental than knowledge or is it the other way around? Many accounts rely on the widely accepted strategy of appealing to the intuition of the reader. Such an argumentative me...

Context Many recent research areas such as human cognition and quantum physics call the observer-independence of traditional science into question. Also, there is a growing need for self-reflexivity in science, i.e., a science that reflects on its own outcomes and products. Problem We introduce the concept of second-order science that is based on t...

Context The journal Constructivist Foundations celebrates ten years of publishing articles on constructivist approaches, in particular radical constructivism. Problem In order to preserve the sustainability of radical constructivism and regain its appeal to new generations of researchers, we set up a new course of action for and with the radical co...

> Context . Ernst von Glasersfeld introduced radical constructivism in 1974 as a new interpretation of Jean Piaget's constructivism to give new meanings to the notions of knowledge, communication, and reality. He also claimed that RC would affect traditional theories of education. > Problem . After 40 years it has become necessary to review and eva...

For a realist, nature embodies the ultimate arbiter, while for social constructivists nature is the projection of social interests. In this paper, the highly ambiguous term "nature" is discussed from yet another position, i.e., radical constructivism. It is argued that this position is incompatible with realism and, for reasons of consistency, also...

Context • Most constructivist discourse is situated at the philosophical-conceptual level, where arguments appeal to the intuition of the reader, while formal-computational models have only been taken into account to a very limited degree so far. > Problem • Two types of problems need to be addressed: Synthetically, can constructivist concepts be t...

Context: Non-dualism suggests a new way of utilizing language without the assumption of categorically extralin-guistic objects denoted by language. Problem: What is the innovative potential, what is the special value of non-dualism for science? Is non-dualism a fruitful conceptual revision or just a philosophical thought experiment with no or littl...

Context: Niklas Luhmann is considered to be a major proponent of the constructivist movement who based his highly complex sociological theory on constructivist concepts such as Maturana's autopoiesis and Spencer Brown's distinction. > Problem: Despite heavily borrowing from constructivism, there are doubts as to whether his epistemological standpoi...

In one of his first papers, Thomas Kuhn (1959) addressed the “essential tension” implicit in scientific research, i.e., the contrast between convergent and divergent thinking. He considered both to be central to the advance of science. Convergent thinking is what scientists do in their daily “normal research projects,” where the “scientist is not a...

Context: Humberto Maturana has generated a coherent and extensive explicatory matrix that encompasses his research in neurophysiology, cognition, language, emotion, and love. Purpose: Can we formulate a map of Maturana’s work in a manner that is consistent with the systemic matrix it represents and that serves as an aid for understanding Maturana’s...

Context: On 12 November 2010, Ernst von Glasersfeld passed away. He was one of the most important, if not the most important, proponents of constructivist philosophy. Problem: In his life Ernst influenced many other scientists and philosophers. By whom was he himself influenced; who shaped his intellectual development? By collecting contributions f...

Wohl kaum eine Disziplin hat in ihrer Geschichte so viele Versprechungen gemacht und gebrochen wie die Artificial Intelligence (AI). So hat Herbert Simon, einer ihrer Pioniere, 1965 vorausgesagt: „machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work that a man can do“ (Simon zitiert nach Boden 2008: 840). Versprechungen dieser Art sind...

〉 Context • Despite many obvious advantages (radical) constructivism seems to have over other philosophies - such as a dynamical understanding of knowledge, the inclusion of interdisciplinary aspects, and practical applications such as tolerance and pluralism as well as active learning - it has failed to become a mainstream philosophy that is widel...

Hegselmann and Krause have developed a simple yet powerful computational model for studying the opinion dynamics in societies of epistemically interacting truth-seeking agents. We present various extensions of this model and show their relevance to the investigation of socio-epistemic questions, with an emphasis on normative questions.

In recent years, various computational models have been developed for studying the dynamics of belief formation in a population of epistemically interacting agents that try to determine the numerical value of a given parameter. Whereas in those models, agents’ belief states consist of single numerical beliefs, the present paper describes a model th...

Organizations and organisms are both complex systems exposed to evolutionary changes. The authors challenge the perspective of mainstream evolutionary theory, according to which evolutionary progress is accomplished in terms of blind variation and external selection. Instead, they present a perspective that complies with Bateson's emphasis on the "...

Using biological examples and theoretical arguments, the case is presented for extending the notion of natural selection to include internal selection in order to account for the evolution of complex systems. It is suggested that we take into consideration internal factors that arise from the hierarchical dynamics of complex systems. In addition to...

Interdisciplinary research provides in¬spirations and insights into how a variety of disciplines can contribute to the formulation of an alternative path to artificial cognition systems. It has been suggested that results from ethology, evolutionary theory and epistemology can be condensed into four boundary conditions. They lead to the outline of...

Interdisciplinary research provides in¬spirations and insights into how a variety of disciplines can contribute to the formulation of an alternative path to artificial cognition systems. It has been suggested that results from ethology, evolutionary theory and epistemology can be condensed into four boundary conditions. They lead to the outline of...

It seems characteristic for humans to detect structural patterns in the world to anticipate future states. Therefore, scientific and common sense cognition could be described as information processing which infers rule-like laws from patterns in data-sets. Since information processing is the domain of computers, artificial cognitive systems are gen...

I identify two similarities between evolutionary epistemology (EE) and radical constructivism (RC): (1) They were founded primarily by biologists and (2) their respective claims can be related to Kant. Despite this fact there seems to be an abyss between them. I present an attempt to reconcile this gap and characterize EE as the approach that focus...

Interdisciplinary research provides inspirations and insights into how a variety of disciplines can contribute to the formulation of an alternative path to artificial cognition systems. The chapter suggests that results from ethology, evolutionary theory and epistemology can be condensed into four boundary conditions. They lead to the outline of an...

Interdisciplinary research provides in¬spirations and insights into how a variety of disciplines can contribute to the formulation of an alternative path to artificial cognition systems. It has been suggested that results from ethology, evolutionary theory and epistemology can be condensed into four boundary conditions. They lead to the outline of...

Purpose: This is an attempt to define constructivism in a pluralistic way. It categorizes constructivist work within a three-dimensional space rather than along one dimension only. Practical implications: The interdisciplinary definition makes it possible to perceive the rather heterogenous constructivist community as a coherent and largely consist...

The conventional philosophical perspective on knowl-edge and meaning suffers from at least two problems: the proper definition of truth, and the use of propositions as a basic vehicle for knowledge. By contrast, natural-ized accounts such as evolutionary epistemology and radical constructivism offer a broader conceptual frame which allows to includ...

Interdisciplinary inquiry presupposes an open worldview to enable the researcher to transcend the confinements of a specific discipline in order to become aware of aspects that are necessary to satisfyingly solve a problem. Radical construc-tivism offers a way of engineering such interdisciplinarity that goes beyond mere multi or pluridisciplinary...

Purpose From the radical constructivist point of view the mainstream conception of memory as an encoding‐storage‐retrieval device is considered questionable. The paper aims at an alternative perspective on memory and its interaction with cognition. Design/methodology/approach The argumentation is based on various experimental data such as cognitiv...

Purpose The paper serves as an introduction to the special issue on Heinz von Foerster. Major episodes of his life are sketched and related to his scientific convictions regarding transdisciplinary research and radical constructivist. In the second part the contributions to the issue are summarized. Finally, the relevance of Foerster's work is disc...

The central question in this paper is: Who (or what) constructs anticipations? I challenge the (tacit) assumption of Rosen's standard defini- tion of anticipatory systems according to which the cognitive system ac- tively constructs a predictive model based on which it carries out anticipa- tions. My arguments show that so-called implicit anticipat...

Gemäß des Konstruktivismus sind wir die Konstrukteure unserer eigenen Welt und nicht durch eine externe Realität determiniert. Seine am meisten konsistente Formulierung, der Radikalen Konstruktivismus (RK), behauptet, dass wir unsere Erfahrung nicht transzendieren können. Deshalb macht es wenig Sinn zu sagen, dass sich unsere Konstruktionen den Str...

For cognitive systems, embodiment appears to be of crucial importance. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be able to define embodiment in a way that would prevent it from also covering its trivial interpretations such as mere situatedness in complex environments. The paper focuses on the definition of embodiment, especially whether physical embodiment...

states. In this step the entities of the empirical theory (i.e., variables, operators/rules, relations, etc.) are transformed into a set of abstract states in which the physical conditions and constraints (e.g., time, space, etc.) of the original system become irrelevant.

According to the standard definition of anticipatory systems, anticipation is based on a predictive model of the system itself and its environment. The paper abandons this perspective of weak anticipation in favor of what has been called strong anticipation. It is proposed that anticipation is a consequence of canalization caused by the organizatio...

Is the evolution and performance of cognition an asymmetric, directed process? The standard externalist definition of evolution as a mechanism of variation and selection cannot account for directed developments such as an increase in complexity of cognition. A separate cause that is responsible for complexification requires us to deviate from the u...

Constructivism is the idea thatwe construct our own world rather than it beingdetermined by an outside reality. Its mostconsistent form, Radical Constructivism (RC),claims that we cannot transcend ourexperiences. Thus it doesn't make sense to saythat our constructions gradually approach thestructure of an external reality. The mind isnecessarily an...

The focus of this paper is the process of knowledge acquisition (KA) and which role virtuality plays in this context. We argue that there are three dif- ferent modes of knowledge acquisition which can be identified both in the domains of cognition and science: the empirical, the "constructive", and the "synthetic" mode. We show that the method of c...

The relationship between our actions and their perceivable results is ruled by what we call the laws of nature. It is general understanding that our actions act upon real objects which react according to the laws of nature what then can be perceived. Virtual Reality Facilities (VRFs) simulate the action-perception relationship in a physically corre...

This paper discusses the notion of representation and outlines the ideas and questions which led to the organization of this volume. We argue for a distinction between the classical view of referential representation, and the alternative concept of system-relative representation. The latter refers to situated cognitive processes whose dynamics are...

Eines der größten Probleme in der Artifical Life ist die Frage, wie Lebewesen mit dem "Information Overload" zurecht kommen, d.h. wie sie aus der Flut der Umweltreize die für sie relevante Information in Echtzeit heraus-filtern. Ausgeklügelte informationsverarbeitende Mechanismen wurden kon-struiert, die das Problem aber nur noch verschlimmern: Wie...

Within this paper I present an artificial life model equipped with fuzzy interval stock schemata (FISS). The schemata are chained thus forming hypotheses. This constructivist-anticipatory algorithm guides perception and behavior of sensorimotor beings.

This paper discusses the notion of representation and outlines the ideas and questions which led to the organization of this volume. We argue for a distinction between the classical view of referential representation, and the alternative concept of system-relative representation. The latter refers to situated cognitive processes whose dynamics are...

According to Thrun and others, personal service robots need increasingly more autonomy in order to function in the highly unpredictable company of humans. At the same time, the cognitive processes in artifacts will become increasingly alien to us. This has several reasons: 1. Maturana's concept of structural determinism questions conventional forms...

Asinus Buridani starved because it could not decide whether to feed from the left or right haystack. Naturally, decisions need to be triggered. Where does this bias come from? Usually conscious free will is held responsible despite warnings such as Huxley's Help-less Spectator Theory, which degrades consciousness to mere surveillance unable to do a...

In this paper I discuss the relevance of asymmet-ric processes in living systems, both in a proce-dural and structural perspective. I do not consider behavior as ahistorical logical problem-solving. Rather I emphasize the anticipation-driven nature of behavior and hence cognition. On a structural level it is evident that the growth of behavioral co...

In order to construct scientifically reasoning artifacts we not only have to close the loop between hypothesis generation and evaluation but also to make the system embodied. To genuinely understand scientific insights, "robot scientists" need to represent scientific knowledge within their own representational structure rather than in terms of a pr...

Der Vorwurf der Beliebigkeit und der Naturalismus-Lastigkeit sind zwei der am häufigsten gegen den Radikalen Konstruktivismus vorgebrachte Kritikpunkte. Diesen Punkten wird in dem Aufsatz begegnet. Zunächst wird dargelegt, daß erst die Definition von Kognition als Fähigkeit zur Abstraktion von Gesetzmäßigkeiten aus dem Erfahrungsstrom zur scheinbar...