Fichte’s Original Insight

Henrich, Dieter

doi:10.4324/9781315686837-5

Cited by 28 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…In the variegated and multi-disciplinary literature on self-representation, the concept of "pre-reflective" self-consciousness has become an important subtopic of debate [4,5,[119][120][121]. The idea that consciousness always involves a form of pre-reflective self-consciousness is the hypothesis that there is a genuine reflexive (versus reflective) form of self-consciousness that (i) does not require a distinct, higher-order mapping or meta-representation S 2 (a representation of a representation) of subjective consciousness S 1 at the first-order, (ii) is truly embedded in the space of awareness itself, as elusive as it may be, and (iii) is a necessary basis for higher-order, reflective self-awareness.…”

Section: The Anti-space and Pre-reflective Self-awarenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mathematical model of embodied consciousness

Rudrauf

Bennequin

Granic

et al. 2017

Journal of Theoretical Biology

108

134

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We introduce a mathematical model of embodied consciousness, the Projective Consciousness Model (PCM), which is based on the hypothesis that the spatial field of consciousness (FoC) is structured by a projective geometry and under the control of a process of active inference. The FoC in the PCM combines multisensory evidence with prior beliefs in memory and frames them by selecting points of view and perspectives according to preferences. The choice of projective frames governs how expectations are transformed by consciousness. Violations of expectation are encoded as free energy. Free energy minimization drives perspective taking, and controls the switch between perception, imagination and action. In the PCM, consciousness functions as an algorithm for the maximization of resilience, using projective perspective taking and imagination in order to escape local minima of free energy. The PCM can account for a variety of psychological phenomena: the characteristic spatial phenomenology of subjective experience, the distinctions and integral relationships between perception, imagination and action, the role of affective processes in intentionality, but also perceptual phenomena such as the dynamics of bistable figures and body swap illusions in virtual reality. It relates phenomenology to function, showing the computational advantages of consciousness. It suggests that changes of brain states from unconscious to conscious reflect the action of projective transformations and suggests specific neurophenomenological hypotheses about the brain, guidelines for designing artificial systems, and formal principles for psychology.

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Section: The Anti-space and Pre-reflective Self-awarenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mathematical model of embodied consciousness

Rudrauf

Bennequin

Granic

et al. 2017

Journal of Theoretical Biology

108

134

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“…(I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for the suggestion to attend to Fichte. My comments are on the basis mainly of [ 8 ], a translation of an exposition by Fichte of SoK, with some matters, including about later developments of SoK, illuminated by [ 69 , 74 , 75 , 76 ]. Page references in double square brackets refer into [ 8 ].)…”

Section: Discussion and Additional Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…211, 261, 266), a feeling of limitation (pp. 21, 266), longing (p. 265), and, notably, a non-conceptual “intuition” that the self has of its own existence ([ 75 ], p. 261). This last is highly analogous to a specific core feeling that MDyn proposes in Section 5.2 , the feeling of own continuing existence.…”

Section: Discussion and Additional Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Meta-Dynamic Nature of Consciousness

Barnden

2020

Entropy

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How, if at all, consciousness can be part of the physical universe remains a baffling problem. This article outlines a new, developing philosophical theory of how it could do so, and offers a preliminary mathematical formulation of a physical grounding for key aspects of the theory. Because the philosophical side has radical elements, so does the physical-theory side. The philosophical side is radical, first, in proposing that the productivity or dynamism in the universe that many believe to be responsible for its systematic regularities is actually itself a physical constituent of the universe, along with more familiar entities. Indeed, it proposes that instances of dynamism can themselves take part in physical interactions with other entities, this interaction then being “meta-dynamism” (a type of meta-causation). Secondly, the theory is radical, and unique, in arguing that consciousness is necessarily partly constituted of meta-dynamic auto-sensitivity, in other words it must react via meta-dynamism to its own dynamism, and also in conjecturing that some specific form of this sensitivity is sufficient for and indeed constitutive of consciousness. The article proposes a way for physical laws to be modified to accommodate meta-dynamism, via the radical step of including elements that explicitly refer to dynamism itself. Additionally, laws become, explicitly, temporally non-local in referring directly to quantity values holding at times prior to a given instant of application of the law. The approach therefore implicitly brings in considerations about what information determines states. Because of the temporal non-locality, and also because of the deep connections between dynamism and time-flow, the approach also implicitly connects to the topic of entropy insofar as this is related to time.

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“…In philosophical discussions this kind of human consciousness is often called self-consciousness. When Dewart denies that he means self-consciousness, he actually concurs with Henrich's[12,13] and others' criticism against the vicious circularity of the theories where self-consciousness develops so that the subject or her consciousness takes itself as its object 6. This is a controversial hypothesis which is extremely difficult to test empirically.…”

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confidence: 88%

“…This negativity as a basic character of education is perhaps more intelligible in the continental tradition starting with the post-Kantian pedagogical paradox[56][57][58] and it is exceptionally explicitly reflected by Dietrich Benner in[59,60] 33 And thus, also the action of consciousness. Here is a strong and interesting parallel connection to the philosophy of Fichte, which, however, must be bypassed in this article (see more in[13,63]). Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 24 February 2021 doi:10.20944/preprints202102.0546.v1…”

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confidence: 99%

Education, Consciousness and Negative Feedback: Towards the Renewal of Modern Philosophy of Education

Pikkarainen¹

2021

Preprint

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Among the biggest challenges facing the contemporary human condition, and therefore also education, is responding to the climate crisis. The source of the crisis is assumed to be absent-mindedness, presented by Leslie Dewart as a distortion of the development of human consciousness. Dewart's poorly-known philosophical consciousness study is presented in this paper in broad outline. The problems in the study of consciousness, the most important of which are the qualitative representations – qualia – and the question of free will, are also briefly discussed. These problems are then examined transcendental analytically, with the question of what one must assume in order to allow the emergence of these phenomena. From the resulting conception of causal relationship, we proceed to the circular causality as a prerequisite for life, namely the homeostatic systems and negative feedback. An organization of action that is essential to animals and humans is presented, using William Powers’ perceptual control theory (PCT), and the role of consciousness in this organization is drafted according to the studies of Martin Taylor. Action is seen as continuous problem solving, in which negative feedback is used to bring perceptions into line with the goals. The fundamental function of consciousness is revealed as the direction and enhancement of learning. Based on PCT, it can be shown that the main practical problems in animal and, especially, human action, are related to adverse side effects of action and the resulting various conflicts. The climate crisis is a typical example of the problematic side effects of collective action. Dewart's concept of absent-mindedness can therefore be defined as an inability to responsibly account for the side effects of action. Thus, the main task of education is to forestall, through negative feedback and in cooperation with learner consciousness, absent-mindedness and the problems it causes.

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Fichte’s Original Insight

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

A mathematical model of embodied consciousness

A mathematical model of embodied consciousness

The Meta-Dynamic Nature of Consciousness

Education, Consciousness and Negative Feedback: Towards the Renewal of Modern Philosophy of Education

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