In these essays Heinz von Foerster discusses some of the fundamental principles that govern how we know the world and how we process the information from which we derive that knowledge. Included are path-breaking articles concerning the principles of computation in neural nets (1967), the definition of self-organizing systems (1960), the nature of cognition (1970), as well as recent expansions on these themes (e.g. "How recursive is communication," 1993).
Working with Norbert Wiener, Warren McCullough, and others in the 1960s and 1970s, von Foerster was one of the founders of the science of cybernetics, which has had profound effects both on modern systems theory and on the philosophy of cognition. At the Biological Computer Laboratory at the University of Illinois he produced the first parallel computers and contributed to many other developments in the theory of computation and cognition.
Author(s): Heinz Von Foerster
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 375
Understanding Understanding - Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition......Page 4
Preface......Page 6
Contents......Page 12
1. On Self-Organizing Systems and Their Environments......Page 14
2. Computation in Neural Nets......Page 34
3. What Is Memory that It May Have Hindsight and Foresight as well?......Page 114
4. Molecular Ethology, An Immodest Proposal for Semantic Clarification......Page 146
5. Thoughts and Notes on Cognition......Page 182
6. Responsibilities of Competence......Page 204
7. Perception of the Future and the Future of Perception......Page 212
8. On Constructing a Reality......Page 224
9. Cybernetics of Epistemology......Page 242
10. Notes on an Epistemology for Living Things......Page 260
11. Objects: Tokens for (Eigen-)Behaviors......Page 274
12. Disorder/Order: Discovery or Invention?......Page 286
13. Cybernetics of Cybernetics......Page 296
14. Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics......Page 300
15. For Niklas Luhmann: “How Recursive is Communication?”......Page 318
16. Introduction to Natural Magic......Page 338
17. Publications......Page 352
B......Page 364
C......Page 365
D......Page 366
E......Page 367
H......Page 368
L......Page 369
M......Page 370
N......Page 371
P......Page 372
S......Page 373
T......Page 374
Z......Page 375
