Enaction as reality research

1. Enaction as reality research Tom Froese Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR), Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (PAICS), University of Sussex, UK

2. Overview • There are two paradigms in the cognitive sciences which can be distinguished by their epistemology: • Objectivist: cognitivism • Non-objectivist: enaction • In this talk it will be argued that: • Cognitivism is a consequence of traditional science • Enaction is a consequence of cognitive science • And it will be concluded that: • A paradigm shift toward enaction in cognitive science entails both an end and a new beginning for science Enaction as reality research

3. Two explanatory paths Maturana’s (1988) “ontological diagram” Enaction as reality research

4. How do we know what we know? • In the sense that Western thought has generally been a rational quest for objective truth, it is fundamentally transcendental. • This objectivist stance is reflected in traditional science by its claim that the knowledge it generates is observer-independent. • However, a constitutive approach is spreading through a number of fields which insists that knowledge only exists in relation to the activity of a knower. It is in the cognitive sciences where such an approach is facing its most important challenge! • If it turns out that cognition is best conceived as constitutive, then such a paradigm shift will not remain internal to cognitive science itself – the conception of knowledge as such is at stake. Enaction as reality research

5. Cognitive science as meta-science • Cognitive science is the scientific study of cognition. • The process of scientific study is itself a particular kind of cognitive activity. • Thus, cognitive science is also a science of science; it is a form of meta-science. • This is the final frontier: science has begun to study the conditions for its own existence! Enaction as reality research

6. The power of meta-science There are several fundamental implications associated with the establishment of a meta-science: 1) Cognitive science research has the power to profoundly change science as a whole. 2) And due to the authority science has in our society, it also has the potential to produce social change. 3) And since society provides the norms by which we live, it can also change the way understand ourselves. Enaction as reality research

7. The role of cognitivism Now we can also begin to understand what is at stake with the success of cognitivism and its objectivist representationalism: • The traditional scientific worldview with its objectivist separation between knowledge and the knower. • The traditional Western heritage of the Enlightenment and its ideal of a rational progression towards objective truth. Motivation: cognitivism as the defender of the status quo. If cognitivism turns out to be an untenable position, this will necessarily also cast doubt on the authority of traditional science and Western rationalist values. Enaction as reality research

8. Objectivist cognitive science? • What are the chances that the traditional objectivist approach to science will succeed in cognitive science? • Once the inherent reflexivity of cognitive science is brought into focus we can see that “at this level, strong ontological objectivism is self-contradictory and therefore untenable” (Stewart 2001). • Indeed, “the cognitive sciences represent an intrinsic challenge to this ‘pure’ form of objective science, […] since the topic under study directly implies the social agents themselves” (Varela & Shear 1999). Enaction as reality research

9. An non-objectivist alternative • The reflexivity of cognitive science itself suggests the need for a non-objectivist account of cognition. • And such an account is also supported by some important empirical observations: • Autopoiesis of organisms • Operational closure of the nervous system • Enaction is a response to these challenges. Enaction as reality research

10. The “Doughnut” of Cognitive Homeostasis “The nervous system is organized (or organizes itself) so that it computes a stable reality.” (von Foerster 1973) Enaction as reality research

11. Second-Order Science • Cognitive science is an instance of what von Foerster would call a ‘second-order cybernetic’ system. • What are its ‘eigenbehaviors’? There is a need to better understand the constitutive factors underlying self-generated stability in such systems. • With its acceptance of the constitutive role of the observer, enaction appears as the historical emergence of a second-order science. • It marks the point where science ceases to be Modern and starts to be Post-modern. Enaction as reality research

12. The role of the observer • Traditional science may have reached its final frontier in cognitive science, but conversely cognitive science has also become the point of origin for a new kind of science. • Enaction marks the start of a second-order science which transcends the traditional subject-object distinction. • Motivation: by incorporating the role of the observer it has made space for a scientific account that includes autonomy and phenomenal experience. Enaction as reality research

13. Enaction as new beginning • The adoption of a non-objectivist epistemology necessarily goes hand in hand with a loss of the metaphysical certainty that the scientific tradition previously believed to have had. • But enaction is also an opportunity for a new beginning beyond the mind-body problem. • While phenomenal experience and autonomous subjectivity had to be explained away before, they are now moved to the centre of wider framework. Enaction as reality research

14. Mind (Cognitive Science) World (Physics) Lived Body (Enaction) Self (Psychology) Body (Biology) Enaction as reality research

15. The enactive framework Being-in-the-world experiential theoretical empirical All 3 domains do not only presuppose a background of non-thematic skillful coping, but also one of pre-reflective lived experience – our way of living/being. Enaction as reality research

16. Concluding remarks • If we accept that cognition is a constitutive process, if our experiential world is enacted by our doing, then we are not only engaged in doing cognitive science but something much more fundamental: reality research. • We are not only studying cognition, but we are researching the conditions for existence as such. • The naturalization of phenomenology has in turn given rise to the phenomenologization of nature. • This paradigm shift has two essential consequences: • We need to accept that there are limits to what we can know. • We are fundamentally responsible for what we experience. Enaction as reality research