Emergent Models of Supple Dynamics in Life and Mind

Author: Bedau M.A.

Source: Brain and Cognition, Volume 34, Number 1, 1997 , pp. 5-27(23)

Publisher: Academic Press

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Abstract:

The dynamical patterns in mental phenomena have a characteristic suppleness-a looseness or softness that persistently resists precise formulation-which apparently underlies the frame problem of artificial intelligence. This suppleness also undermines contemporary philosophical functionalist attempts to define mental capacities. Living systems display an analogous form of supple dynamics. However, the supple dynamics of living systems have been captured in recent artificial life models, due to the emergent architecture of those models. This suggests that analogous emergent models might be able to explain supple dynamics of mental phenomena. These emergent models of the supple mind, if successful, would refashion the nature of contemporary functionalism in the philosophy of mind.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: Department of Philosophy, Reed College:

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