MD & LS
Here's huge cybernetics web site that has detailed discussions, definitions of
terms,metaphysical and philosophical theories of many of same issues we are
discussing on both LS & MoQ.Check it out.
http://pcp.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html
Some snip from that site:
Their levels are:
1.Prebiotic: the developments taking place before the origin of the life, i.e.
the emergence of physico-chemical complexity: the Big Bang, space and time,
energy and particles, atoms and the different elements, molecules up to
organic polymers,simple dissipative structures.
2.Biological: the origin of life and the further development of the
specifically biological aspects of it: DNA, reproduction, autopoiesis,
prokaryotes vs.eukaryotes, multicellularity, sexual reproduction, the species.
3.Cognitive: the origin of mind, i.e. the basic cybernetic, cognitive
organization,going from simple reflexes to complex nervous systems, learning,
and thought.
4.Social: the development of social systems and culture: communication,
cooperation, moral systems, memes
Similar sources:
Many philosophers have attempted to build a process metaphysics or an
evolutionary philosophy, including Alfred North Whitehead, Teilhard de
Chardin, Herbert Spencer, and Henry Bergson. Their main idea is to ground a
philosophy on change or development, rather than on static concepts like
matter or mind. However, these early process philosophies are characterized by
vagueness and mysticism, and they tend to see evolution as teleological, goal
directed, guided by some supra-physical force, rather than as the blind
variation and selection process that we postulate. They are thus not
constructivist in the sense discussed in section constructivism.
Constructive empiricism ?
We accept mathematical and psychological constructivism, but we go further. We
call our evolutionary philosophy physically constructive in the sense that
systems can only be understood in terms of the (physical) processes which
manifest them and by which they have been assembled. This is certainly true
for physical and biological systems, but also holds for formal, symbolic, and
semantic systems. In particular, we hold that semantics, language, and
mathematics must always be understood in the context of the physical basis of
their operation---on the physical systems (e.g. sense organs, brains,
machines, computers) which transmit, receive, and especially interpret
physical tokens.
DLT
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