Michał PiekarskiCardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw · Institute of Philosophy
Michał Piekarski
PhD
Predictive processing; normativity; mechanisms; philosophy of cognitive science; philosophy of mind.
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49
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61
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
Michał Piekarski currently works at the Institute of Philosophy, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. Michał does research in Philosophy of Cognitive Science. His current project is 'Predictive Mechanisms and Their Normativity'.
Publications
Publications (49)
In this paper, I attempt to address some of the themes of Ludwig Wittgenstein's "Tractatus logico-philosophicus" with the aim of their deconstructionist interpretation. My analysis is based on David Gunkel's book "Deconstruction" (MIT Press 2021). Based on some of its findings, I show how the Tractatus allows deconstruction and its practice to be t...
The aim of this paper is to present the ontic approach to the normativity of cognitive functions and mechanisms, which is directly related to the understanding of biological normativity in terms of normative mechanisms. This approach assumes the hypothesis that cognitive processes contain a certain normative component independent of external attrib...
The aim of this paper is to present the ontic approach to the normativity of cognitive functions and mechanisms, which is directly related to the understanding of biological normativity in terms of normative mechanisms. This approach assumes the hypothesis that cognitive processes contain a certain normative component independent of external attrib...
Marek Pokropski’s “Mechanisms and Consciousness Integrating Phenomenology with Cognitive Science” reopens the question about the possibility of naturalization of phenomenology. The author adopts the position of nonreductive mechanistic integration, which, he claims, has offered new methodological perspectives for studying complex mental phenomena s...
The dispute over the continuity of life and mind. Arguments for cognitivism: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the position of non-cognitivism on the issue of the so-called dispute over the continuity / discontinuity of life and mind. In discussing the views of Michael Kirch-hoff and Tom Froese, I will point out some difficulties related to t...
There is a view emerging in the philosophy of science that research practices in science can be characterized in terms of discovering and describing mechanisms. Mechanistic explanations are based on the identifying the underlying mechanisms that generate a target phenomenon and strategies understood as decomposition of these mechanisms. Recently, t...
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the Predictive Processing framework (hereinafter PP) and to identify its basic theoretical difficulties. For this reason, it is, primarily, polemic-critical and, secondarily, historical. I discuss the main concepts, positions and research issues present within this framework (§1-2). Nex...
The aim of this study is to justify the belief that there are biological normative mechanisms that fulfill non-trivial causal roles in the explanations (as formulated by researchers) of actions and behaviors present in specific systems. One example of such mechanisms is the predictive mechanisms described and explained by predictive processing (her...
The article is an attempt at explaining the category of logical form used by Ludwig Wittgenstein in his Tractatus logico-philosophicus by using concepts from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s The Monadology. There are many similarities and analogies between those works, and the key concept for them is the category of the inner and acknowledged importance...
This article is an attempt to identify the sources of normativity in virtue ethics. The starting point for the analyzes presented here is the book by Dominika Dzwonkowska Environmental virtue ethics. In § 1, I present the basic theses and assumptions of this approach to ethics. Then, with reference to the concept of the moral subject proposed by Dz...
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest dyskusja z niektórymi tezami zawartymi w książce Witolda Płotki, Studia z fenomenologii poznania. Transcedentalna filozofia Edmunda Husserla a problem wiedzy. Zostaje podjęta kwestia dotyczącą miejsca i znaczenia rozważań nad językiem w kontekście fenomenologii Husserlowskiej. Autor zastanawia się, czy język jest med...
W artykule analizuję zagadnienie normatywności funkcji zaprezentowane w książce Krystyny Bieleckiej Błądzę, więc myślę. Co to jest błędna reprezentacja? W części pierwszej zaryso-wuję ogólne założenia, jakie, jak twierdzę, powinna spełniać realistyczna i nietrywialna teoria normatywności reprezentacji. W części drugiej przedstawiam bronioną przez B...
Many researchers accuse the Predictive Processing (PP) framework of returning to nineteenth-century speculations regarding the knowledge of reality, the difference between phenomena and things in themselves, or questions about idealism. Dan Zahavi's (2018) harsh criticism follows in this tradition. He argues that the supporters of PP are not able t...
One of the most interesting philosophical aspects of predictive processing (PP) is the normativity of predictive mechanisms and its function as a guide of action. In my opinion this framework provides us with good tools to describe and explain the phenomenon of normativity. It is possible to justify the thesis that explanations in the PP approach a...
Celem niniejszych rozważań jest zarysowanie nowego podejścia w analizowaniu, czym jest normatywność. Po pierwsze (§1–2) wskazuję na miejsce problemu normatywności we współczesnej filozofii, koncentrując się sporze pomiędzy naturalizmem i antynaturalizmem. Następnie (§3) omawiam tzw. odgórną drogę w badaniu normatywności, którą przeciwstawiam inspir...
In these reflections, we want to prove a thesis whereby normativity of rules and norms may be linked to the domain of artefacts which we understand as social things. We claim that some norms and rules are situated in human socio-material ecosystems especially when it comes to the role played by affordances. The thesis advanced in this article will...
Issue editor - Michał Piekarski
The aim of the present article is (1) to analyse the normative character of anticipations
described by phenomenology; (2) to demonstrate, within the framework of the predictive
processing approach, that predictions fulfill a specific normative function in the
perceptual process; and (3) to justify the thesis according to which the analyses of norma...
This article concerns the problem of the normativity of action. In what sense can
we say that actions are normative? Can we explain the normativity of action by reference
to some established norms, by a relation to the language-user’s knowledge, or through
regularities of social practice? Engaging with Robert Brandom, who distinguishes two ways
of...
The aim of the present investigation is to sketch a new approach to analysing normativity. First (§1–2) I locate the problem of normativity in the landscape of contemporary philosophy and focus on the dispute between naturalism and antinaturalism. Then (§3) I discuss the so-called top-down approach to studying normativity, to which I oppose the bot...
The dominant view in contemporary philosophy of action is that, to explain an action, we need to provide its reason. A reason is what rationalises an action. According to Donald Davidson, before we can describe a reason, we must first identify the need which accompanies the performance of a given action as well as the specific attitude of the agent...
The aim of our investigations is to examine the following thesis: people distinguish situations with different normative qualifications. What does it mean? We would like to prove that there is a specific intuition of normativity which helps people to make a decision, differentiate actions and attitudes. In his famous article Intentional Action and...
Andrzej Półtawski is a founder of original conception of realistic phenomenology. Półtawski in early Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology recognized one of the fundamental lineament of modern philosophy: an empiristic belief in existence of sensual data, qualities or impressions. Sensual data are something belonging to worldly objects, but they are also...
These reflections will focus on the problem of normativity in the theory of predictive coding. First (§1), we will briefly discuss the predictive conception and two types of reasoning. In §2 we will analyse the importance of prediction in perception processes and differentiate between two kinds of perceptive normativity which is closely related to...
In this article we would like to prove that the so-called Ludwig Wittgenstein's phenomenology was not the phenomenology in Husserlian sense. Ludwig Wittgenstein's thought is most often associated with analytical philosophy, pragmatism or a specific metaphilosophical programme. Conversely, the philosopher is rarely considered as belonging to the phe...
The aim of these investigations is the attempt to show that there is a specific experience of normativity, which as categorial experience is founded on the empirical intuition. The background of this contribution is some Roman Ingarden’s considerations concerning values and norms, and Husserlian analysis of the typicy of experience and the acts of...
The article discusses Joshua Knobe’s problem of asymmetry in ascribing intentionality to actions. Knobe claims that, in a way, the asymmetry is related to the human tendency for blaming the agent for negative side effects of her actions rather than praising her for the positive ones. He believes that people are more likely to link intentional actio...
In this article I discuss the thesis put forward by David Gunkel and Mark Coeckelbergh in their essay Facing Animals:A Relational, Other-Oriented Approach to Moral Standing. The authors believe that the question about the status of animals needs to be reconsidered. In their opinion, traditional attempts to justify the practice of ascribing rights t...
Celem artykułu jest omówienie znaczenia i aktualności rozważań G.W. Leibniza
dla problemu natury oraz roli reprezentacji w poznaniu. Propozycja hanowerskiego
filozofa zawiera szereg interesujących intuicji. Leibniz argumentuje na
rzecz tezy, że reprezentowanie ma charakter wyrażania tego, do czego dana
reprezentacja się odnosi. Nie jest to teza jas...
Przedmiotem analiz jest problem postawiony przez Romana Ingardena w jego wykładach z etyki: czy jest możliwe, aby w danym przedmiocie czy sytuacji odnaleźć cechę szczególnego rodzaju, którą rozpoznajemy jako pewną wartość? Na to pytanie istnieją trzy możliwe odpowiedzi. Pierwsza ujmuje wartości jako cechy bezwzględne przedmiotu lub sytuacji. Druga...
Od kilku lat obserwujemy w Polsce szerokie zainteresowanie problemem praw zwierząt. Nasilające się na ten temat dyskusje motywują przedstawicieli bardzo różnych dziedzin i gałęzi nauki do czynnego zabierania głosu. Etycy wymieniają swoje poglądy z biologami, prawnikami, lekarzami czy psychologami1. Spory o prawa zwierząt wyraźnie przypominają debat...
The article discusses the problem of the unity of Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy. It is demonstrated that Wittgenstein applied two methods of study. Changes in his philosophy are correlated with modifications in his method of thinking and investigation. In his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the only correct method is logical proposition analysis...
Artykuł jest próbą wyjaśnienia kategorii formy logicznej użytej przez Ludwiga Wittgensteina w "Traktacie logiczno-filozoficznym" za pomocą pojęć zaczerpniętych z "Monadologii" Gottfrieda Wilhelma Leibniza. Pomiędzy oboma dziełami zachodzą liczne podobieństwa oraz analogie, a kluczowe jest dla nich pojęcie tego, co wewnętrzne, i uznanie ważności roz...
Celem niniejszego artykułu jest uzasadnienie tezy, że pytanie o to, czy zwierzęta
myślą, nie jest pytaniem z zakresu epistemologii lub metafizyki, ale ma charakter
ściśle etyczny. Opierając się na argumentach Kartezjusza odmawiających
myślenia zwierzętom, rekonstruuję dyskusję pomiędzy stanowiskiem Normana
Malcolma a inferencjalizmem, aby wykazać,...
https://ksiegarnia.pwn.pl/Logika-Gramatyka-Pragmatyka,725563057,p.html
Projects
Projects (2)
In general, I defend the view that the predictions are normative due to their constitutive role in guiding actions. In this sense, I claim normativity is such a real property that can be assigned to a given mechanism or object due to the function it performs in a given organism, cognitive system or decision-making process, and which cannot be reduced to some evaluation practice. In other words, the condition for assigning normativity is that the mechanism or object in question is normative per se.
In this project I would like to suggest the following research hypothesis – if we supplement the theory of pattern recognition with the thesis about the predictive nature of perception, we will be able to recognise the normative value in the ability to recognise patterns. A pattern is identified as something which serves a specific function in the predictions made by the cognitive system as to the probability of some events in relation to the system’s possible reactions.
Current research into cognitive science as well as the so-called deep learning and machine learning suggests that the processes of perception, learning, language acquisition, face recognition and so on are based on the ability to recognise patterns. In a nutshell, perception is possible thanks to the existence of some fixed, regular and non-random elements in the sensory experience which allow us to organise data present in the statistical sensory signal. Thanks to patterns, information reaching us through sensory modalities is arranged to an extent and, what is particularly important, can be used to predict, to a degree, how a given experience will continue. Pattern recognition is thus specifically important in terms of providing norms for our perceptive experience.
We may therefore conclude that without analysing the nature of pattern recognition and patterns themselves, we will not be able to provide a fully adequate explanation of predictive processing. There is definitely some sort of feedback between the ability to make perceptive hypotheses and the ability to recognise patterns, but the analyses carried out so far say almost nothing about the nature of this relation. At higher levels of the generative model, the cognitive system seems to perceive patterns rather than individual differences (Hohwy 2013: 69). Consequently, I would be justified in saying that, in order to explain perception normativity fully, we should first explain the function of pattern recognition in predictive processes.
