Sims, Matthew and Pezzulo, Giovanni (2021) Modelling Ourselves: what the Free Energy Principle reveals about our implicit notions of representation. [Preprint]
|
Text
Modelling Ourselves_what the Free Energy Principle reveals about our implicit notions of representation.pdf Download (584kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Predictive processing theories are increasingly popular in philosophy of mind; such process theories often gain support from the Free Energy Principle (FEP) – a normative principle for adaptive self-organized systems. Yet there is a current and much discussed debate about conflicting philosophical interpretations of FEP, e.g., representational versus non-representational. Here we argue that these different interpretations depend on implicit assumptions about what qualifies (or fails to qualify) as representational. We deploy the Free Energy Principle (FEP) instrumentally to distinguish four main notions of representation, which focus on organizational, structural, content-related and functional aspects, respectively. The various ways that these different aspects matter in arriving at representational or non-representational interpretations of the Free Energy Principle are discussed. We also discuss how the Free Energy Principle may be seen as a unified view where terms that traditionally belong to different ontologies - e.g., notions of model and expectation versus notions of autopoiesis and synchronization - can be harmonized. However, rather than attempting to settle the representationalist vs non-representationalist debate and reveal something about what representations are simpliciter, this paper demonstrates how the Free Energy Principle may be used to reveal something about those partaking in the debate; namely, what our hidden assumptions about what representations are – assumptions that act as sometimes antithetical starting points in this persistent philosophical debate.
| Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
| Social Networking: |
| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: |
|
|||||||||
| Additional Information: | Forthcoming Synthese paper | |||||||||
| Keywords: | Free Energy Principle; active inference; predictive processing; generative model; internal representation; action-oriented representation; enactivism; forward model; Markov blankets | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Explanation |
|||||||||
| Depositing User: | Dr Matt Sims | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 26 Mar 2021 03:24 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 28 Apr 2021 14:28 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 18855 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Psychology > Evolutionary Psychology Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Explanation |
|||||||||
| Date: | March 2021 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/18855 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}