Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Beyond the frame problem: what (else) can Heidegger do for AI?

  • Open Forum
  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

About three decades ago, AI theory underwent a sharp turn as a consequence of criticism that pointed out the problem of externalism in the cognitivist position. Hubert Dreyfus, undoubtedly the main exponent of this criticism, opened the possibility of a Heideggerian reading using the frame problem to bring to light obscurities that otherwise would have been very difficult to detect. However, the question still remains of whether or not Heidegger’s philosophy can serve as the source of a positive contribution to AI. In this paper, we argue that in the small measure in which such a task has been attempted, its orientation has been hampered by the omission of what, for Heidegger, was the central issue to be pondered: the question for being and the ontological difference. To propose a possible direction in which AI can be headed as a consequence of this novel perspective, we undertake a brief and schematic review of two published projects suggesting that they both manage to avoid the frame problem and also bear this Heideggerian outlook.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

Not applicable.

Code availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Ali SM (2001) The end of the (Dreyfus) Affair: (Post) Heideggerian meditations on man, machine, and meaning. In: International conference on cognitive technology. Springer, Berlin, pp 149–156

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Botvinick M, Weinstein A (2014) Model-based hierarchical reinforcement learning and human action control. Philos Trans Roy Soc B 369(1655):20130480. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandom R (2007) Heidegger’s categories in being and time. Companion Heidegger. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470996492.ch13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown H, Friston K, Bestman S (2011) Active inference, attention and motor preparation. Front Psychol 2:218. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruineberg J, Rietveld E (2019) What’s inside your head once you’ve figured out what your head’s inside of. Ecol Psychol 31(3):198–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JW (2019) Obtrusive, obstinate and conspicuous: red tape from a Heideggerian perspective. Int J Organ Anal 5:1657–1672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JS, Givigi SN, Schwartz HM (2015) Handling stochastic reward delays in machine reinforcement learning. In: IEEE 28th Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 2015 (pp 314–319). IEEE

  • Carman T (2013) The question of being. The Cambridge companion to Heidegger’s being and time. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 84–99

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Casati F (2020) The recent engagement between analytic philosophy and Heideggerian thought: logic and language. Philos Compass 15(2):e12651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casati F, Wheeler M (2016) The recent engagement between analytic philosophy and Heideggerian thought: metaphysics and mind. Philos Compass 11(9):486–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalita MA, Lis D (2015) Bio-connectionist model based in the thalamo-cortical circuit. Panam J Neuropsychol. https://doi.org/10.7714/cnps/9.2.204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chalita MA, Lis D, Caverzasi A (2016) Reinforcement learning in a bio-connectionist model based in the thalamo-cortical neural circuit. Biol Inspired Cogn Archit. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bica.2016.03.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chemero A (2003) An outline of a theory of affordances. Ecol Psychol 15(2):181–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark A, Chalmers D (1998) The extended mind. Analysis 58(1):7–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarkin-Phillips J, Carr M (2012) An affordance network for engagement: increasing parent and family agency in an early childhood education setting. Eur Early Child Educ Res J 20(2):177–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crowell SG (2001) Husserl, Heidegger, and the space of meaning: paths toward transcendental phenomenology. Northwestern University Press, Evanston

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado MR, Jou RL, Phelps EA (2011) Neural systems underlying aversive conditioning in humans with primary and secondary reinforcers. Front Neurosci 5:71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deschênes M, Veinante P, Zhang ZW (1998) The organization of corticothalamic projections: reciprocity versus parity. Brain Res Rev 28(3):286–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0173(98)00017-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dotov DG, Nie L, Chemero A (2010) A demonstration of the transition from ready-to-hand to unready-to-hand. PLoS ONE 5(3):e9433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL (1972) What computers can’t do: a critique of artificial reason. Harper Collins Publishers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL (1992) What computers still can’t do: a critique of artificial reason. MIT press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL (2007) Why Heideggerian AI failed and how fixing it would require making it more Heideggerian. Philos Psychol 20(2):247–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL, Wrathall MA (eds) (2008) A companion to Heidegger. Wiley, Hoboken

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL (2009) How representational cognitivism failed and is being replaced by body/world coupling. In After cognitivism. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 39–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL, Hubert L (1991) Being-in-the-world: a commentary on Heidegger’s being and time. Division I. Mit Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreyfus HL (1993) Heidegger's critique of the Husserl/Searle account of intentionality. Soc Res 60(1):17–38

  • Favela LH (2020) Dynamical systems theory in cognitive science and neuroscience. Philos Compass 15(8):e12695

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman WJ (1991) The physiology of perception. Sci Am 264(2):78–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman WJ (2000) How brains make up their minds. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman WJ (2007) The place of ‘codes’ in nonlinear neurodynamics. Prog Brain Res 165:447–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friston K, Kiebel S (2009) Cortical circuits for perceptual inference. Neural Netw 22:1093–1104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friston KJ, Daunizeau J, Kilner J, Kiebel SJ (2010) Action and behavior: a free-energy formulation. Biol Cybern 102(3):227–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson JJ (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Lifflin, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Globus G (2018) A quantum brain interpretation of Heideggerian cognitive science. NeuroQuantology. https://doi.org/10.14704/nq.2018.16.10.1890

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granger RH, Hearn RA (2007) Models of thalamocortical system. Scholarpedia 2(11):1796. https://doi.org/10.4249/scholarpedia.1796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grush R (2001) The semantic challenge to computational neuroscience. Theory Method Neurosci 155–172

  • Grush R (2005) Brain time and phenomenological time. Cogn Brain 160–207

  • Guignon C (2005) The history of being. A Companion to Heidegger 392–406.v

  • Hatab L (2016) Interpreting Heidegger. Res Phenomenol 46:456–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haugeland J (2013) Dasein disclosed. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (1988) The basic problems of phenomenology, vol 478. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (2002a) The principle of identity. Identity and difference. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 23–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (2002b) The onto-theo-logical constitution of metaphysics. Identity and difference. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 42–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (2006) The origin of the work of art, translated by Roger Berkowitz and Philippe Nonet. https://www.academia.edu/2083177/The_Origin_of_the_Work_of_Art_by_Martin_Heidegger [Accessed Jul 2021]

  • Heidegger M (2008) Ontology—the hermeneutics of facticity. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M, Stambaugh J (2002) On time and being. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M, Stambaugh J, Schmidt DJ (2010) Being and time. SUNY Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Hemming LP (1998) Speaking out of turn: Martin Heidegger and die Kehre. Int J Philos Stud 6(3):393–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera C, Sanz R (2016) Heideggerian AI and the being of robots. In fundamental issues of artificial intelligence. Springer, Cham, pp 497–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Hohwy J, Roepstorff A, Friston K (2008) Predictive coding explains binocular rivalry: an epistemological review. Cognition 108(3):687–701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl E (1931) Ideas toward a pure phenomenology and a phenomenological philosophy. Humanities Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Husserl E (2013) Cartesian meditations: an introduction to phenomenology. Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Kisiel T, van Buren J (eds) (1994) Reading Heidegger from the start: essays in his earliest thought. State University of New York Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiverstein J (2012) What is Heideggerian cognitive science? Heidegger Cogn Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-00610-3_1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs G (1987) The ontological difference in Heidegger’s. Heidegger Stud 3:61–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Lifschitz V (2015) The dramatic true story of the frame default. J Philos Log 44(2):163–176

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd D (2002) Functional MRI and the study of human consciousness. J Cogn Neurosci 14(6):818–831

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd D (2004) Radiant cool: a novel theory of consciousness. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazur JE (1995) Conditioned reinforcement and choice with delayed and uncertain primary reinforcers. J Exp Anal Behav 63(2):139–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaels CF (2003) Affordances: four points of debate. Ecol Psychol 15(2):135–148

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Minsky M (2019 [1974]) A framework for representing knowledge (pp 1–25). de Gruyter

  • Miracchi L (2020) Updating the frame problem for AI research. J Artif Intell Conscious 7(02):217–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulhall S (2013) The Routledge guidebook to Heidegger’s being and time. Routledge, Milton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Neff G, Jordan T, McVeigh-Schultz J, Gillespie T (2012) Affordances, technical agency, and the politics of technologies of cultural production. J Broadcast Electron Media 56(2):299–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson G (1996) The ontological difference. Am Philos Q 33(4):357–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters ME (2019) Heidegger’s embodied others: on critiques of the body and ‘intersubjectivity’ in being and time. Phenomenol Cogn Sci 18(2):441–458

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Pöggeler O (1987) Martin Heidegger’s path of thinking. Humanities Press International, Atlantic Highlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Raja V (2018) A theory of resonance: towards an ecological cognitive architecture. Mind Mach 28(1):29–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe M (2012) There can be no cognitive science of Dasein. Heidegger and Cognitive Science. Palgrave Macmillan UK, London, pp 135–156

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reiter R (2001) Knowledge in action: logical foundations for specifying and implementing dynamical systems. MIT press, Cambridge

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen SM (2004) Dimensions of Apeiron: a topological phenomenology of space, time, and individuation, vol 154. Rodopi, Amsterdam

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ryle G (1949) The concept of mind. Hutchinson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan M (1997) Solving the frame problem: a mathematical investigation of the common sense law of inertia. MIT press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheehan T (2014) Making sense of Heidegger: a paradigm shift. Rowman & Littlefield

  • Thompson E, Stapleton M (2009) Making sense of sense-making: reflections on enactive and extended mind theories. Topoi 28(1):23–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vail LM (1972) Heidegger and ontological difference. University park, Pennsylvania

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dijk J and Hummels C (2017) Designing for embodied being-in-the-world: two cases, seven principles and one framework. In: Proceedings of the eleventh international conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, (pp 47–56). ACM

  • Wheeler M (2010) In defense of extended functionalism. In: Menary R (ed) The extended mind. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 245–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler M (2012) Naturalising Dasein and other (Alleged) Heresies. In: Kiverstein J, Wheeler M (eds) Heidegger and cognitive science. Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler M, Di Paolo E (2014) Existentialism and cognitive science. The Bloomsbury companion to existentialism. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, p 241

    Google Scholar 

  • Withagen R, De Poel HJ, Araújo D, Pepping GJ (2012) Affordances can invite behavior: reconsidering the relationship between affordances and agency. New Ideas Psychol 30(2):250–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to Dr. María Clemencia (Tachi) Jugo Beltrán for her invaluable comments and suggestions.

Funding

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. FFyH, UNC, Córdoba, Argentina

    Mario Andrés Chalita

  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

    Alexander Sedzielarz

Authors
  1. Mario Andrés Chalita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexander Sedzielarz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Not applicable.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mario Andrés Chalita.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chalita, M.A., Sedzielarz, A. Beyond the frame problem: what (else) can Heidegger do for AI?. AI & Soc 38, 173–184 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01280-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01280-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation