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Enactivism: [Description] [Math Ed][Reading list]

Enactivism

As described by David A. Reid

"Enactivism" is used by Bateson, Maturana, Rosch, Thomson, and Varela to

label their theories. The "Experientialism" ofLakoffand Johnson is closely

related to Enactivism, and I will not distinguish them here. Enactivism is a theory

of mind, but, as Bateson (1987) notes, from an Enactivist perspective

"epistemology and theories of mind and theories of evolution are very close to

being the same thing" (p. 38) so discussions of Enactivism range through the

traditional disciplines of philosophy, psychology, and biology. Elements of the

psychology of Piaget and Vygotsky are compatible with Enactivism, and I will

draw on their writings occasionally, especially in considering Enactivism inrelation to learning. The philosophical basis of Enactivism can be found, with

some effort, in the writings ofWittgenstein on the philosophy of psychology, and

I will make connection with his work wherever possible.

A good starting point to understanding Enactivism is the problem of the

relationship between an entity and its surroundings. The first part of this problem

is specifying what it is that makes us see the entity as separate from its

surroundings. The term organization is used to describe those features of an

entity which allow an observer to distinguish it from everything else. Note that

this implies that an entity's organization varies from observer to observer.

Some entities have an organization that is complex. Complexity is a term

borrowed from complexity theorists (e.g., Kauffman, 1993). A system is complex

if "a great many independent agents are interacting with each other in a great

many ways" (Waldrop, 1992, p. 11). Complex systems create themselves, in the

sense that they come into being and remain in existence through their own

internal interactions.

Systems that continually create themselves are referred to in Enactivism

asautopoetic. The components of autopoetic systems "must be dynamicallyrelated in a network of ongoing interactions" (Maturana & Varela, 1992, pp. 43-

44). That is, the components interact in ways which are continually changing, but

which at the same time allow for the continuation of interactions so that the

system continues to exist. In addition, the interactions of the components of an

autopoetic system are responsible for the production of the components

themselves. In summary, an autopoetic system is an emergent phenomenon
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arising from the interaction of components which, by way of these interactions,

give rise to new interactions and new components, while preserving the system's

autopoetic character.

Adapting involves changes to a system'sstructure. It is important to distinguish

between the structure of a system and its organization. A system's organizationincludes the invariant features without which it would cease to be what it is. An

autopoetic system must maintain its organization. The structure of a system

includes all its features at a given moment. Interactions with its environment and

within the system itself result in a continuous modification of a system's

structure.

The problem is how to handle the problem of structural change and to show how

an organism, which exists in a medium and which operates adequately to its

need, can undergo a continuous structural change such that it goes on acting

adequately in its medium, even though the medium is changing. Many namescould be given to this; it could be called learning. (Maturana, 1987, pp. 74-75)

Living systems achieve autopoesis by actingin some way to adjust to local

conditions. It is this acting that indicates cognition, so in Enactivism, cognition is

a feature of all living systems. This idea is encapsulated in the phrase "Knowing

is being is doing." The word "enactivism" is derived from this idea of knowing in

action. The way a living system comes to know about the medium it is in is

through interaction with that medium. This implies that the system's knowledge

of its world depends not only on the medium, but also on the actions the system

is capable of.

An autopoetic system is "an active self-updating collection of structures capable

of informing (or shaping) its surrounding medium into a world through a history

of structural coupling with it" (Varela, 1987, p. 52). As noted above, a system

only knows about those aspects of its medium with which it can interact in some

way. This means that in being, doing, and knowing, a system defines the world in

which it lives.

The activity of coming to know, of learning, is a modification of structure. At the

same time it is the system's structure that limits what actions it can take in theenvironment, and therefore what it can come to know. This limitation of a

system's possible actions is calledstructure determinism. What a system does in

response to a trigger from its medium is determined entirely by its structure.

If I have a living system ... then this living system is in a medium with which it

interacts. Its dynamics of state result in interactions with the medium, and the
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dynamics of state within the medium result in interactions with the living system.

What happens in interaction? Since this is a structure determined system ... the

medium triggers a change of state in the system, and the system triggers a change

of state in the medium. What change of state? One of those which is permitted by

the structure of the system. (Maturana, 1987, p. 75)

In this passage Maturana introduces a central idea of Enactivism: co-emergence.

The interaction between a system and a medium (which may include other

autopoetic systems) is the mechanism by which both the system and the medium

change. As long as a system and a medium continue to be able to interact they

are said to bestructurally coupledand they co-emerge. It should be emphasized

that co-emergence does not imply that the system and the medium are becoming

more fully adapted to each other. All that is certain is that their structures allow

them to interact. It is possible that a history of structural coupling may lead to a

situation in which the system and the medium are no longer able to interact. In

this case they cease to be structurally coupled. This may be because the system

migrates to another medium or because the interaction between the medium and

the system disrupts the organization of one or the other, and it dies.

In describing the relationship between an entity and its environment, the mistake

is sometimes made of seeing the environment asprescribingthe structure of the

entity. For example, in the popular understanding of Darwin's theory of evolution

animals are seen as having certain features because their environment requires

that feature. So polar bears are white, unlike most other bears, because they live

in snowy surroundings. The enactivist view of evolution is one of natural drift,

based on an animal's environmentproscribingcertain features. This proscription

is simply another way of looking at the breakdown of the structural coupling

between the animal and its environment. If the animal's structure does not allow

for interaction with its environment, then it dies. In effect it is not allowed to

have that structure. This is not the same as the environment requiring that it have

a certain structure, and in fact many different structures are possible within the

constraints imposed by the need to remain structurally coupled. The full range of

possible structures defines asphere of behavioral possibilities within which

animals can act.

For references, see the Enactivism reading list.

This page maintained by David A. Reid. email: [email protected]
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Enactivism: [Description] [Math Ed][Reading list]
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