What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Cognition?
Human, Cybernetic, and Phylogenetic Conceptual Schemes
Abstract
In this paper I will outline three conceptual schemes for thinking about cognition. One is the anthropocentric scheme that dominated our thinking for thousands of years: human cognition. Another is the approach founded in classical cognitive science and artificial intelligence: cybernetic cognition. The third is the framework of evolutionary biology that encompasses all traits of evolved organisms: phylogenetic cognition. I will explain all three and sketch their current relationships. Each scheme forms the conceptual ground of a valid research programme, but how these programmes and schemes will end up in relation to each other is an open question.
Submitted: Dec. 5, 2023 | Accepted: Dec. 26, 2023 | Published Feb. 7, 2024 | Language: en
Keywords Cognition • Cognitive ontology • Evolution of cognition • Basal cognition • Cybernetics
Copyright © 2023 Carrie Figdor. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/2723-9640/2023/02/001