61 found
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  1.  22
    On The Nature Of Representation: A Case Study Of James Gibson's Theory Of Perception.Mark H. Bickhard & D. Michael Richie - 1983 - Ny: Praeger.
  2. The Process Dynamics of Normative Function.Wayne David Christensen & Mark H. Bickhard - 2002 - The Monist 85 (1):3-28.
    Outlines the etiological theory of normative functionality. Analysis of the autonomous system; Function of systems-oriented approaches; Specifications of system identity.
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  3. The interactivist model.Mark H. Bickhard - 2009 - Synthese 166 (3):547 - 591.
    A shift from a metaphysical framework of substance to one of process enables an integrated account of the emergence of normative phenomena. I show how substance assumptions block genuine ontological emergence, especially the emergence of normativity, and how a process framework permits a thermodynamic-based account of normative emergence. The focus is on two foundational forms of normativity, that of normative function and of representation as emergent in a particular kind of function. This process model of representation, called interactivism, compels changes (...)
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  4. Representational content in humans and machines.Mark H. Bickhard - 1993 - Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 5:285-33.
    This article focuses on the problem of representational content. Accounting for representational content is the central issue in contemporary naturalism: it is the major remaining task facing a naturalistic conception of the world. Representational content is also the central barrier to contemporary cognitive science and artificial intelligence: it is not possible to understand representation in animals nor to construct machines with genuine representation given current (lack of) understanding of what representation is. An elaborated critique is offered to current approaches to (...)
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  5. Physicalism, Emergence and Downward Causation.Richard J. Campbell & Mark H. Bickhard - 2011 - Axiomathes 21 (1):33-56.
    The development of a defensible and fecund notion of emergence has been dogged by a number of threshold issues neatly highlighted in a recent paper by Jaegwon Kim. We argue that physicalist assumptions confuse and vitiate the whole project. In particular, his contention that emergence entails supervenience is contradicted by his own argument that the ‘microstructure’ of an object belongs to the whole object, not to its constituents. And his argument against the possibility of downward causation is question-begging and makes (...)
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  6.  82
    Autonomy, function, and representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2000 - Communication and Cognition-Artificial Intelligence 17 (3-4):111-131.
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  7. Emergence.Mark H. Bickhard - 2000 - In P. B. Andersen, Claus Emmeche, N. O. Finnemann & P. V. Christiansen (eds.), Downward Causation. Aarhus, Denmark: University of Aarhus Press. pp. 322-348.
    * This paper was to have been written jointly with Don Campbell. His tragic death on May 6, 1996, occurred before we had been able to do much planning for the paper. As a result, this is undoubtedly a very different paper than if Don and I had written it together, and, undoubtedly, not as good a paper. Nevertheless, I believe it maintains at least the spirit of what we had discussed. Clearly, all errors are mine alone.
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  8. Process and emergence: Normative function and representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2004 - Axiomathes - An International Journal in Ontology and Cognitive Systems 14:135-169.
    Emergence seems necessary for any naturalistic account of the world — none of our familiar world existed at the time of the Big Bang, and it does now — and normative emergence is necessary for any naturalistic account of biology and mind — mental phenomena, such as representation, learning, rationality, and so on, are normative. But Jaegwon Kim’s argument appears to render causally efficacious emergence impossible, and Hume’s argument appears to render normative emergence impossible, and, in its general form, it (...)
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  9.  36
    On Emergence, Again.Francesco Maria Ferrari & Mark H. Bickhard - 2023 - Metaphysica 24 (2):381-406.
    The aim of the present paper is twofold. First, we are interested in assessing the validity of one version of Kim’s argument against genuine higher level causation. Second, we discuss Wilson’s proposal to consider a weaker notion of emergence as genuinely metaphysical and compatible with Non-Reductive Physicalism. Our conclusion is that both proposals fail: the first in preempting genuine (strong) emergent causation, whereas the second in ensuring a genuinely metaphysical status to weak emergence. After all, Wilson’s proposal strongly depends on (...)
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  10.  49
    If human cognition is adaptive, can human knowledge consist of encodings?Robert L. Campbell & Mark H. Bickhard - 1991 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14 (3):488-489.
  11. Some Consequences (and Enablings) of Process Metaphysics.Mark H. Bickhard - 2011 - Axiomathes 21 (1):3-32.
    The interactivist model has explored a number of consequences of process metaphysics. These include reversals of some fundamental metaphysical assumptions dominant since the ancient Greeks, and multiple further consequences throughout the metaphysics of the world, minds, and persons. This article surveys some of these consequences, ranging from issues regarding entities and supervenience to the emergence of normative phenomena such as representation, rationality, persons, and ethics.
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  12. Motivation and Emotion: An Interactive Process Model.Mark H. Bickhard - 2000 - In Ralph D. Ellis (ed.), The Caldron of Consciousness: Motivation, Affect and Self-Organization. John Benjamins. pp. 161.
    In this chapter, I outline dynamic models of motivation and emotion. These turn out not to be autonomous subsystems, but, instead, are deeply integrated in the basic interactive dynamic character of living systems. Motivation is a crucial aspect of particular kinds of interactive systems -- systems for which representation is a sister aspect. Emotion is a special kind of partially reflective interaction process, and yields its own emergent motivational aspects. In addition, the overall model accounts for some of the crucial (...)
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  13.  82
    Levels of representationality.Mark H. Bickhard - 1998 - Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 10 (2):179-215.
    The dominant assumptions -- throughout contemporary philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence -- about the ontology underlying intentionality, and its core of representationality, is that of encodings -- some sort of informational or correspondence or covariation relationship between the represented and its representation that constitutes that representational relationship. There are many disagreements concerning details and implementations, and even some suggestions about claimed alternative ontologies, such as connectionism (though none that escape what I argue is the fundamental flaw in these (...)
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  14. The dynamic emergence of representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2004 - In Hugh Clapin (ed.), Representation in Mind: New Approaches to Mental Representation. Elsevier. pp. 71--90.
    A final version of this paper is in press as: Bickhard, M. H.. The Dynamic Emergence of Representation. In H. Clapin, P. Staines, P. Slezak Representation in Mind: New Approaches to Mental Representation. Praeger.
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  15.  79
    The biological foundations of cognitive science.Mark H. Bickhard - manuscript
  16. A Process Model of the Emergence of Representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 1998 - In George L. Farre & Tarkko Oksala (eds.), Emergence, Complexity, Hierarchy, Organization, Selected and Edited Papers From the ECHO III Conference. Acta Polytechnica Scandinavica. pp. 3-7.
    Two challenges to the very possibility of emergence are addressed, one metaphysical and one logical. The resolution of the metaphysical challenge requires a shift to a process metaphysics, while the logical challenge highlights normative emergence, and requires a shift to more powerful logical tools -- in particular, that of implicit definition. Within the framework of a process metaphysics, two levels of normative emergence are outlined: that of function and that of representation.
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  17.  60
    Toward a Model of Functional Brain Processes II: Central Nervous System Functional Macro-architecture.Mark H. Bickhard - 2015 - Axiomathes 25 (4):377-407.
    The first paper in this pair (Bickhard in Axiomathes, 2015) developed a model of the nature of representation and cognition, and argued for a model of the micro-functioning of the brain on the basis of that model. In this sequel paper, starting with part III, this model is extended to address macro-functioning in the CNS. In part IV, I offer a discussion of an approach to brain functioning that has some similarities with, as well as differences from, the model presented (...)
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  18.  56
    What could cognition be if not computation…Or connectionism, or dynamic systems?Mark H. Bickhard - 2015 - Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 35 (1):53-66.
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  19. Social Ontology as Convention.Mark H. Bickhard - 2008 - Topoi 27 (1-2):139-149.
    I will argue that social ontology is constituted as hierarchical and interlocking conventions of multifarious kinds. Convention, in turn, is modeled in a manner derived from that of David K. Lewis. Convention is usually held to be inadequate for models of social ontologies, with one primary reason being that there seems to be no place for normativity. I argue that two related changes are required in the basic modeling framework in order to address this (and other) issue(s): (1) a shift (...)
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  20. Consciousness and reflective consciousness.Mark H. Bickhard - 2005 - Philosophical Psychology 18 (2):205-218.
    An interactive process model of the nature of representation intrinsically accounts for multiple emergent properties of consciousness, such as being a contentful experiential flow, from a situated and embodied point of view. A crucial characteristic of this model is that content is an internally related property of interactive process, rather than an externally related property as in all other contemporary models. Externally related content requires an interpreter, yielding the familiar regress of interpreters, along with a host of additional fatal problems. (...)
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  21.  79
    The Social Ontology of Persons.Mark H. Bickhard - unknown
    Persons are biological beings who participate in social environments. Is human sociality different from that of insects? Is human sociality different from that of a computer or robot with elaborate rules for social interaction in its program memory? What is the relationship between the biology of humans and the sociality of persons? I argue that persons constitute an emergent ontological level that develops out of the biological and psychological realm, but that is largely social in its own constitution. This requires (...)
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  22.  88
    Troubles with computationalism.Mark H. Bickhard - 1996 - In William T. O'Donohue & Richard F. Kitchener (eds.), The philosophy of psychology. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. pp. 173--183.
  23.  37
    Why Children Don't have to Solve the Frame Problems.Mark H. Bickhard - unknown
    We all believe an unbounded number of things about the way the world is and about the way the world works. For example, I believe that if I move this book into the other room, it will not change color -- unless there is a paint shower on the way, unless I carry an umbrella through that shower, and so on; I believe that large red trucks at high speeds can hurt me, that trucks with polka dots can hurt me, (...)
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  24.  73
    Toward a Model of Functional Brain Processes I: Central Nervous System Functional Micro-architecture.Mark H. Bickhard - 2015 - Axiomathes 25 (3):217-238.
    Standard semantic information processing models—information in; information processed; information out —lend themselves to standard models of the functioning of the brain in terms, e.g., of threshold-switch neurons connected via classical synapses. That is, in terms of sophisticated descendants of McCulloch and Pitts models. I argue that both the cognition and the brain sides of this framework are incorrect: cognition and thought are not constituted as forms of semantic information processing, and the brain does not function in terms of passive input (...)
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  25.  80
    Function, anticipation, representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2001 - AIP Conference Proceedings 573:459-469.
    Function emerges in certain kinds of far-from-equilibrium systems. One important kind of function is that of interactive anticipation, an adaptedness to temporal complexity. Interactive anticipation is the locus of the emergence of normative representational content, and, thus, of representation in general: interactive anticipation is the naturalistic core of the evolution of cognition. Higher forms of such anticipation are involved in the subsequent macro-evolutionary sequence of learning, emotions, and reflexive consciousness.
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  26.  89
    Information and representation in autonomous agents.Mark H. Bickhard - 2000 - Cognitive Systems Research 1 (2):65-75.
    Information and representation are thought to be intimately related. Representation, in fact, is commonly considered to be a special kind of information. It must be a _special_ kind, because otherwise all of the myriad instances of informational relationships in the universe would be representational -- some restrictions must be placed on informational relationships in order to refine the vast set into those that are truly representational. I will argue that information in this general sense is important to genuine agents, but (...)
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  27.  70
    Knowing levels and the child's understanding of mind.Robert L. Campbell & Mark H. Bickhard - 1993 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (1):33-34.
  28. Concepts: Where Fodor went wrong.A. Levine & Mark H. Bickhard - 1999 - Philosophical Psychology 12 (1):5-23.
    In keeping with other recent efforts, Fodor's CONCEPTS focuses on the metaphysics of conceptual content, bracketing such epistemological questions as, "How can we know the contents of our concepts?" Fodor's metaphysical account of concepts, called "informational atomism," stipulates that the contents of a subject's concepts are fixed by the nomological lockings between the subject and the world. After sketching Fodor's "what else?" argument in support of this view, we offer a number of related criticisms. All point to the same conclusion: (...)
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  29.  93
    An integration of motivation and cognition.Mark H. Bickhard - 2003 - In L. Smith, C. Rogers & P. Tomlinson (eds.), Development and Motivation: Joint Perspectives. Leicester: British Psychological Society. pp. 41-56.
  30.  32
    Encodingism is not just a bad metaphor.Robert Mirski & Mark H. Bickhard - 2019 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 42.
    Brette's criticism of the coding metaphor focuses on its presence in neurosciences. We argue that this problematic view, which we call “encodingism,” is pernicious in any model of cognition that adopts it. We discuss some of the more specific problems it begets and then elaborate on Brette's action-based alternative to the coding framework.
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  31.  50
    Representing is something that we do, not a structure that we “use”: Reply to Gładziejewski.Haydar Oğuz Erdin & Mark H. Bickhard - 2018 - New Ideas in Psychology 1 (49):27-37.
    The interactivist model of representation makes foundational criticisms of assumptions concerning representation that have been standard since the pre-Socratics and presents a positive model that differs from others on offer in several ways. The interactivist model of representation (or re- presenting), consequently, does not fit well within standard categories (though it is closest to the general pragmatist framework), and, consequently, is often miscategorized and misunderstood. A recent paper by Gładziejewski (2016) gives us an opportunity to address some of these issues. (...)
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  32.  39
    Is cognition an autonomous subsystem.Mark H. Bickhard - 1997 - In S. O'Nuillain, Paul McKevitt & E. MacAogain (eds.), Two Sciences of Mind. John Benjamins. pp. 115--131.
  33.  68
    The Psychology of Personhood: Philosophical, Historical, Social-Developmental, and Narrative Perspectives.Jack Martin & Mark H. Bickhard (eds.) - 2012 - Cambridge University Press.
    Machine generated contents note: 1. Introducing persons and the psychology of personhood Jack Martin and Mark H. Bickhard; Part I. Philosophical, Conceptual Perspectives: 2. The person concept and the ontology of persons Michael A. Tissaw; 3. Achieving personhood: the perspective of hermeneutic phenomenology Charles Guignon; Part II. Historical Perspectives: 4. Historical psychology of persons: categories and practice Kurt Danziger; 5. Persons and historical ontology Jeff Sugarman; 6. Critical personalism: on its tenets, its historical obscurity, and its future prospects James T. (...)
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  34. Some notes on internal and external relations and representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2003 - Consciousness and Emotion 4 (1):101-110.
    Internal relations are those relations that are intrinsic to the nature of one or more of the relata. They are a kind of essential relation, rather than an essential property. For example, an arc of a circle is internally related to the center of that circle in the sense that.
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  35.  48
    Mechanism is not enough.Mark H. Bickhard - 2007 - Pragmatics and Cognition 15 (3):573-585.
    I will argue that mechanism is not sufficient to capture representation, thus cognition. More generally, mechanism is not sufficient to capture normativity of any sort. I will also outline a model of emergent normativity, representational normativity in particular, and show how it transcends these limitations of mechanism. To begin, I will address some illustrative attempts to model representation within mechanistically naturalistic frameworks, first rather generally, and then in the cases of the models of Fodor and Millikan.
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  36. How does the environment affect the person?Mark H. Bickhard - 1992 - In L. T. Winegar & Jaan Valsiner (eds.), Children's Development Within Social Contexts: Metatheoretical, Theoretical and Methodological Issues. Erlbaum.
    How Does the Environment Affect the Person? Mark H. Bickhard invited chapter in Children's Development within Social Contexts: Metatheoretical, Theoretical and Methodological Issues, Erlbaum. edited by L. T. Winegar, J. Valsiner, in press.
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  37.  25
    Interactive knowing: The metaphysics of intentionality.Mark H. Bickhard - 2010 - In Roberto Poli & Johanna Seibt (eds.), Theory and Applications of Ontology: Philosophical Perspectives. Springer Verlag. pp. 207--229.
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  38.  26
    Constructivisms and relativisms: A shopper's guide.Mark H. Bickhard - 1997 - Science & Education 6 (1-2):29-42.
  39.  38
    Critical principles: on the negative side.Mark H. Bickhard - 2002 - New Ideas in Psychology 20:1-34.
    neglected aspect: knowledge of error, or ‘‘negative’’ knowledge. The development of knowledge of what counts as error occurs via a kind of internal variation and selection, or quasi-evolutionary, process. Processes of reflection generate a hierarchy of principles of error.
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  40.  50
    9 The emergent ontology of persons.Mark H. Bickhard - 2012 - In Jack Martin & Mark H. Bickhard (eds.), The Psychology of Personhood: Philosophical, Historical, Social-Developmental, and Narrative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165.
  41.  83
    The Tragedy of Operationalism.Mark H. Bickhard - unknown
    Operational definitions were a neo-Machean development that connected with the positivism of Logical Positivism. Logical Positivism failed, with the failure of operational definitions being just one of multiple and multifarious failures of Logical Positivism more broadly. Operationalism, however, has continued to seduce psychology more than half a century after it was repudiated by philosophers of science, including the very Logical Positivists who had first taken it seriously. It carries with it a presupposed metaphysics that is false in virtually all of (...)
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  42. Automata Theory, Artificial Intelligence and Genetic Epistemology.Mark H. Bickhard - 1982 - Revue Internationale de Philosophie 36 (4):549.
     
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  43. Mind as process.Mark H. Bickhard - 2002 - In F.G. Riffert & Marcel Weber (eds.), Searching for New Contrasts. Vienna: Peter Lang. pp. 285-294.
    assumptions about the phenomena of interest with process models. Thus, phlogiston has been replaced by combustion, caloric by random thermal motion, and vital fluid by far- from-equilibrium self-reproducing organizations of process. The most significant exceptions to this historical pattern are found in studies of the mind. Here, substance assumptions are still ubiquitous, ranging from models of representation to those of emotions to personality and psychopathology. Substance assumptions do pernicious damage to our ability to understand such phenomena. In this discussion, I (...)
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  44. The Emergence of Contentful Experience.Mark H. Bickhard - 2001 - In Tadashi Kitamura (ed.), What Should Be Computed to Understand and Model Brain Function?: From Robotics, Soft Computing, Biology and Neuroscience to Cognitive Philosophy. World Scientific.
    There are many facets to mental life and mental experience. In this chapter, I attempt to account for some central characteristics among those facets. I argue that normative function and representation are emergent in particular forms of the self-maintenance of far from thermodynamic equilibrium systems in their essential far-from-equilibrium conditions. The nature of representation that is thereby modeled.
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  45.  28
    Information, Representation, Biology.Mark H. Bickhard - 2017 - Biosemiotics 10 (2):179-193.
    Biosemiotics contains at its core fundamental issues of naturalism: are normative properties, such as meaning, referent, and others, part of the natural world, or are they part of a second, intentional and normative, metaphysical realm — one that might be analogically applied to natural phenomena, such as within biological cells — but a realm that nevertheless remains metaphysically distinct? Such issues are manifestations of a fundamental metaphysical split between a “natural” realm and a realm of normativity and intentionality. This problematic (...)
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  46.  45
    You can't get there from here: Foundationalism and development.Jedediah Wp Allen & Mark H. Bickhard - 2011 - Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34 (3):124-125.
    The thesis of our commentary is that the framework used to address what are taken by Carey to be the open issues is highly problematic. The presumed necessity of an innate stock of representational primitives fails to account for the emergence of representation out of a nonrepresentational base. This failure manifests itself in problematic ways throughout Carey's book.
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  47.  11
    Anticipation and Representation.Mark H. Bickhard - 2019 - In Roberto Poli (ed.), Handbook of Anticipation: Theoretical and Applied Aspects of the Use of Future in Decision Making. Springer Verlag. pp. 323-338.
    Anticipation or prediction is generally assumed to be based on some sort of representation. Such representations will be involved, for example, in a model – causal, statistical, dynamic, and other kinds of model – of the system or phenomena to be anticipated. This form of anticipation certainly exists, and is quite important.I will argue, however, that there is a more basic form of anticipation that does not require representation, but is, in fact, constitutive of representation. The intuition underlying this point (...)
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  48.  52
    Does Process Matter? An Introduction to the Special Issue on Interactivism.Mark H. Bickhard - 2011 - Axiomathes 21 (1):1-2.
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  49.  16
    Emergent Mental Phenomena.Mark H. Bickhard - 2021 - In Inês Hipólito, Robert William Clowes & Klaus Gärtner (eds.), The Mind-Technology Problem : Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artefacts. Springer Verlag. pp. 49-63.
    The possibilities, if any, of ‘artificial’ mental phenomena, including consciousness, depend on what the metaphysical nature of such phenomena are. I will outline a model of metaphysical emergence, and, based on that, emergent mental phenomena, with a focus on cognition and consciousness. This model suggests that ‘artificial’ mental phenomena are possible, though not with current technology. Furthermore, such ‘artificial’ mental phenomena would require, in effect, the creation of artificial life, at least in a metabolic sense.
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  50.  68
    (1 other version)Interactivism: Introduction to the special issue.Mark H. Bickhard - 2009 - Synthese 166 (3):449-451.
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