Abstract
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 in many related domains. The discussion ends with brief attention to three domains in which changes are induced by the representational model: perception, learning, and language.
References
Aitchison I.J.R. (1985). Nothing’s plenty: The vacuum in modern quantum field theory. Contemporary Physics 26(4): 333–391
Aitchison I.J.R. and Hey A.J.G. (1989). Gauge theories in particle physics. Adam Hilger, Bristol, England
Allen, J. (2007). Stepping off the pendulum: Why only a thoroughly action based approach can fully transcend the nativist-empiricist epicycles and ground mind in the natural world. Interactivist Summer Institute, The American University of Paris, May 29, 2007.
Belsey A. (1995). Matter. In: Honderich, T. (eds) The Oxford companion to philosophy, p. 539. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Bickhard M.H. (1980). Cognition, convention and communication. Praeger Publishers, New York
Bickhard M.H. (1987). The social nature of the functional nature of language. In: Hickmann, M. (eds) Social and functional approaches to language and thought, pp 39–65. Academic, New York
Bickhard M.H. (1993). Representational content in humans and machines. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 5: 285–333
Bickhard M.H. (1995). Intrinsic constraints on language: Grammar and hermeneutics. Journal of Pragmatics 23: 541–554
Bickhard, M. H. (2000a). Information and representation in autonomous agents. Journal of Cognitive Systems Research, 1, 65–75. http://www.elsevier.nl.
Bickhard M.H. (2000b). Motivation and emotion: An interactive process model. In: Ellis R.D., Newton N. (eds). The Caldron of Consciousness. J. Benjamins, pp. 161–178
Bickhard M.H. (2000c). Emergence. In: Andersen, P.B., Emmeche, C., Finnemann, N.O. and Christiansen, P.V. (eds) Downward causation, pp 322–348. University of Aarhus Press, Aarhus, Denmark
Bickhard M.H. (2002). Critical principles: On the negative side of rationality. New Ideas in Psychology 20: 1–34
Bickhard M.H. (2003a). Some notes on internal and external relations and representation. Consciousness & Emotion 4(1): 101–110
Bickhard M.H. (2003b). An integration of motivation and cognition. In: Smith, L., Rogers, C. and Tomlinson, P. (eds) Development and motivation: Joint perspectives, pp 41–56. British Psychological Society, Monograph Series II, Leicester
Bickhard M.H. (2003c). Variations in variation and selection: The ubiquity of the variation-and-selective retention ratchet in emergent organizational complexity, Part II: Quantum field theory. Foundations of Science 8(3): 283–293
Bickhard, M. H. (2004a). Process and emergence: Normative function and representation. Axiomathes–An International Journal in Ontology and Cognitive Systems, 14, 135–169. Reprinted from: Bickhard, M. H. (2003). Process and emergence: Normative function and representation. In J. Seibt (Ed.), Process theories: Cross disciplinary studies in dynamic categories (pp. 121–155). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Bickhard M.H. (2004b). The social ontology of persons. In: Carpendale, J.I.M. and Muller, U. (eds) Social interaction and the development of knowledge, pp 111–132. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ
Bickhard M.H. (2005). Consciousness and reflective consciousness. Philosophical Psychology 18(2): 205–218
Bickhard M.H. (2006). Developmental normativity and normative development. In: Smith, L. and Voneche, J. (eds) Norms in human development, pp 57–76. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Bickhard M.H. (2007). Language as an interaction system. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 171–187
Bickhard, M. H. (forthcoming-a). Interactivism. In P. Calvo & J. Symons (Eds.), Routledge companion to the philosophy of psychology. London: Routledge.
Bickhard, M. H. (forthcoming-b). Interactive knowing: The metaphysics of intentionality. In R. Poli, J. Seibt, & J. Symons (Eds.), Theory and applications of ontology. Dordrecht: Kluwer
Bickhard, M. H. (forthcoming-c). Social ontology as convention. Topoi.
Bickhard, M. H. (in preparation). The whole person: Toward a naturalism of persons—contributions to an ontological psychology.
Bickhard M.H. and Campbell R.L. (1992). Some foundational questions concerning language studies: With a focus on categorial grammars and model theoretic possible worlds semantics. Journal of Pragmatics 17(5/6): 401–433
Bickhard M.H. and Campbell R.L. (1996). Topologies of learning and development. New Ideas in Psychology 14(2): 111–156
Bickhard M.H. and Richie D.M. (1983). On the nature of representation: A case study of James Gibson’s theory of perception. Praeger Publishers, New York
Bickhard, M. H., & Terveen, L. (1995). Foundational issues in artificial intelligence and cognitive science: Impasse and solution. Elsevier Scientific.
Brown H.R. and Harré R. (1988). Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Butchvarov P. (1999). Substance. In: Audi, R. (eds) The Cambridge dictionary or philosophy, p. 887. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Campbell D.T. (1974). Evolutionary Epistemology. In: Schilpp, P.A. (eds) The philosophy of Karl Popper, pp 413–463. Open Court, LaSalle, IL
Campbell D.T. (1990). Levels of organization, downward causation and the selection-theory approach to evolutionary epistemology. In: Greenberg, G. and Tobach, E. (eds) Theories of the evolution of knowing, pp 1–17. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ
Campbell, R. J. (1992). Truth and historicity. Oxford.
Campbell, R. J., & Bickhard, M. H. (in preparation). Physicalism, emergence, and downward causation.
Campbell R.L. and Bickhard M.H. (1986). Knowing levels and developmental stages. Contributions to Human Development. Karger, Basel, Switzerland
Cao T.Y. (1999). Conceptual foundations of quantum field theory. Cambridge, Press, Cambridge
Carlson N.R. (2000). Physiology of behavior (7th ed). Allyn and Bacon, Boston
Chang, C. C., & Keisler, H. J. (1990). Model theory. North Holland.
Chapman M. (1988). Constructive evolution: Origins and development of Piaget’s thought. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Christensen W.D. and Bickhard M.H. (2002). The process dynamics of normative function. Monist 85(1): 3–28
Christopher J.C. and Bickhard M.H. (2007). Culture, self and identity: Interactivist contributions to a metatheory for cultural psychology. Culture & Psychology 13(3): 259–295
Clifton, R. (1996). Perspectives on quantum reality. Kluwer Academic.
Cummins R. (1996). Representations, targets and attitudes. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Davies P.C.W. (1984). Particles do not exist. In: Christensen, S.M. (eds) Quantum theory of gravity, pp 66–77. Bristol England, Adam, Hilger
Diessel H. (2007). Frequency effects in language acquisition, language use and diachronic change. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 108–127
Doyle J. (1985). Circumscription and implicit definability. Journal of Automated Reasoning 1: 391–405
Dretske F.I. (1988). Explaining behavior. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Fauconnier G. (1985). Mental spaces. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Fodor J.A. (1981). The present status of the innateness controversy. In: Fodor, J. (eds) Representations, pp 257–316. MIT Press, Cambridge
Fodor J.A. (1987). A situated grandmother?. Mind and Language 2: 64–81
Fodor J.A. (1990a). A theory of content and other essays. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Fodor J.A. (1990b). Information and representation. In: Hanson, P.P. (eds) Information, language and cognition, pp 175–190. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver
Fodor J.A. (1991). Replies. In: In; Loewer, B. and Rey, G. (eds) Meaninig in mind: Fodor and his critics, pp 255–319. Blackwell, Oxford
Fodor, J. A. (1998). Concepts: Where cognitive science went wrong. Oxford.
Fodor, J. A. (2003). Hume variations. Oxford.
Fodor J.A. and Pylyshyn Z. (1981). How direct is visual perception?: Some reflections on Gibson’s ecological approach. Cognition 9: 139–196
Gibson J.J. (1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Gibson J.J. (1977). The theory of affordances. In: Shaw, R. and Bransford, J. (eds) Perceiving, acting and knowing., pp 67–82. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ
Gibson J.J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
Gibson R.F. (2004). Quine’s behaviorism cum empiricism. In: Gibson, R.F. (eds) The Cambridge companion to quine, pp 181–199. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Gill, M-L. (1989). Aristotle on substance. Princeton.
Glock H.-J. (1996). Necessity and normativity. In: Sluga, H. and Stern, D.G. (eds) The Cambridge companion to wittgenstein, pp 198–225. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Glock, H.-J. (2003). Quine and Davidson on language, thought, and reality. Cambridge.
Goldberg A.E., Casenhiser D. and White T.R. (2007). Constructions as categories of language. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 70–86
Graham, D. W. (1997). Heraclitus’ criticism of ionian philosophy. In C. C. W. Taylor (Ed.), Oxford studies in ancient philosophy (Vol. XV, pp. 1–50). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Graham D.W. (2006). Explaining the cosmos. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Greenspan S. and Shanker S. (2007). The developmental pathways leading to pattern recognition, joint attention, language and cognition. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 128–142
Guthrie W.K.C. (1965). A history of greek philosophy II: The presocratic tradition from parmenides to democritus. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hale B. and Wright C. (2000). Implicit definition and the a priori. In: Boghossian, P. and Peacocke, C. (eds) New essays on the a priori, pp 286–319. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Halvorson H. and Clifton R. (2002). No place for particles in relativistic quantum theories?. Philosophy of Science 69(1): 1–28
Hawkins J.A. (2007). Processing typology and why psychologists need to know about it. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 87–107
Hilbert D. (1971). The foundations of geometry. Open Court, La Salle
Huggett N. (2000). Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51(supplement): 617–637
Huggett N. and Weingard R. (1996). Critical review: Paul Teller’s interpretive introduction to quantum field theory. Philosophy of Science 63: 302–314
Hume D. (1978). A treatise of human nature. Index by L. A. Selby-Bigge; Notes by P. H. Nidditch. Oxford.
Hylton P. (1990). Russell, idealism and the emergence of analytic philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Joas H. (1993). American pragmatism and German thought: A history of misunderstandings. In: Joas, H. (eds) Pragmatism and social theory, pp 94–121. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Kaplan D. (1979). On the logic of demonstratives. In: P. French, T. Uehling, Jr., H. Wettstein (eds) Contemporary perspectives in the philosophy of language, pp 401–412. Minnesota University Press, Minneapolis
Kaplan D. (1989). Demonstratives: An essay on semantics, logic, metaphysics, and epistemology of demonstratives and other indexicals. In: Allmog J., Perry J., Wettstein H. (eds) Themes from Kaplan. Oxford University Press, pp. 481–563
Kim J. (1991). Epiphenomenal and supervenient causation. In D. M. Rosenthal (Ed.), The nature of mind (pp. 257–265). Oxford University Press.
Kim J. (1993). Supervenience and mind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kim, J. (1998). Mind in a physical world. MIT.
Kim J. (2005). Physicalism, or something near enough. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Kneale W. and Kneale M. (1986). The development of logic. Clarendon, Oxford
Kolaitis, Ph. G. (1990). Implicit definability on finite structures and unambiguous computations. In Proc. 5th IEEE LICS (pp. 168–180).
Kuhlmann M., Lyre H. and Wayne A. (2002). Ontological aspects of quantum field theory. World Scientific, River Edge, NJ
Levine A. and Bickhard M.H. (1999). Concepts: Where fodor went wrong. Philosophical Psychology 12(1): 5–23
Lewis D.K. (1969). Convention. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
McLaughlin B.P. (1992). The rise and fall of British emergentism. In: Beckermann, A., Flohr, H. and Kim, J. (eds) Emergence or reduction? Essays on the prospects of nonreductive physicalism, pp 49–93. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin
McLaughlin, B. P., & Bennett, K. (2005). Supervenience. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/supervenience/.
Millikan R.G. (1984). Language, thought and other biological categories. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Millikan R.G. (1993). White queen psychology and other essays for alice. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Nunberg G. (1979). The non-uniqueness of semantic solutions. Linguistics and Philosophy 3(2): 143–184
O’Regan J.K. and Noë A. (2001). A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(5): 939–1011
Orenstein, A. (2002). W. V. Quine. Princeton.
Otero M.H. (1970). Gergonne on implicit definition. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 30(4): 596–599
Owens J. (1978). The Doctrine of being in the Aristotelian metaphysics (3rd ed). Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto
Partee B. (1972). Opacity, coreference and pronouns. In: Davidson, D. and Harman, G. (eds) Semantics of natural language, pp 415–441. Reidel, Dordrecht
Perry, J. (1993). The problem of the essential indexical. Oxford.
Piaget J. (1954). The construction of reality in the child. Basic, New York
Piaget J. (1970). Genetic epistemology. Columbia, New York
Piaget, J. (2001). Studies in reflecting abstraction. (Ed. and transl. by Robert L. Campbell). Hove, England: Psychology Press.
Piattelli-Palmarini M. (1980). Language and learning. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Popkin R. (2003). The history of scepticism. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Popkin R.H. and Stroll A. (2002). Skeptical philosophy for everyone. Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY
Port R. (2007). How are words stored in memory? Beyond phones and phonemes. New Ideas in Psychology 25(2): 143–170
Quine W.V.O. (1966). Implicit definition sustained. In: Quine, W.V.O. (eds) The ways of paradox, pp 195–198. Random House, New York
Reale G. (1987). From the origins to socrates. State University of New York Press, Albany
Rescher N. (1980). Scepticism. Rowman and Littlefield, Totowa, NJ
Robinson, H. (2004). Substance. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/substance/.
Ryder, L. H. (1985). Quantum field theory. Cambridge.
Schelling T.C. (1963). The strategy of conflict. Oxford University Press, New York
Schurz, G. (1997). The is-ought problem: An investigation in philosophical logic (Trends in Logic, V. 1). Kluwer Academic.
Sciama D.W. (1991). The physical significance of the vacuum state of a quantum field. In: Saunders, S. and Brown, H.R. (eds) The philosophy of vacuum, pp 137–158. Clarendon, Oxford
Shapiro, S. (1991). Foundations without foundationalism. Oxford.
Shapiro, S. (1997). Philosophy of mathematics: Structure and ontology. Oxford.
Shapiro S. (2005a). Higher order logic. In: Shapiro, S. (eds) The Oxford handbook of philosophy of mathematics and logic, pp 751–780. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Shapiro S. (2005b). The Oxford handbook of philosophy of mathematics and logic. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Smith, B. C. (1987). The correspondence continuum. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, CSLI-87-71.
Taylor, C. C. W. (1997). Anaxagoras and the atomists. In C. C. W. Taylor (Ed.), From the beginning to Plato (pp. 208–243). Routledge.
Teller P. (1992). A contemporary look at emergence. In: Beckermann, A., Flohr, H. and Kim, J. (eds) Emergence or reduction? essays on the prospects of nonreductive physicalism, pp 139–153. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin
Teller P. (1996). Wave and particle concepts in quantum field theory. In: Clifton, R. (eds) Perspectives on quantum reality, pp 143–154. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Trusted J. (1999). The mystery of matter. St. Martin’s Press, New York
Weinberg S. (1977). The search for unity, notes for a history of quantum field theory. Daedalus 106(4): 17–35
Weinberg S. (1995). The quantum theory of fields. Foundations (Vol 1). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Weintraub R. (1997). The sceptical challenge. Routledge, London
Wittgenstein Ludwig (1953). Philosophical investigations. Cambridge, Basil Blackwell
Wright, M. R. (1997). Empedocles. In C. C. W. Taylor (Ed.), From the beginning to Plato (pp. 175–207). Routledge.
Zee A. (2003). Quantum field theory in a nutshell. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bickhard, M.H. The interactivist model. Synthese 166, 547–591 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-008-9375-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-008-9375-x