LiteratureBase
Cognition all the way down
Levin, M., & Dennett, D. C. (2020). Cognition all the way down. Aeon Essays.
Abstract
- Biologists like to think of themselves as properly scientific behaviourists, explaining and predicting the ways that proteins, organelles, cells, plants, animals and whole biota behave under various conditions, thanks to the smaller parts of which they are composed. They identify causal mechanisms that reliably execute various functions such as copying DNA, attacking antigens, photosynthesising, discerning temperature gradients, capturing prey, finding their way back to their nests and so forth, but they don’t think that this acknowledgment of functions implicates them in any discredited teleology or imputation of reasons and purposes or understanding to the cells and other parts of the mechanisms they investigate.
- Concepts Agency, Anthropomorphism, Brain, Centralized thinking, Cognition, Cognitive horizons, Complex systems, Cooperation, Future thinking/mental time travel, Intelligences, Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Evolution, Philosophy of Mind, Pragmatism, Teleology
- Relevant learning goals Critical Thinking, Evaluation Competency, Evolutionary Thinking, Future Thinking, Interdisciplinary Thinking, Metacognitive Competency, Systems Thinking
- Relevant subject areas Biology, ESD, Ethics, Human Evolution, Interdisciplinary, Philosophy, Social-Emotional Learning
