Skip to main content

The Magic Ring Explores Cognition and Learning

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Magic Ring

Part of the book series: Contemporary Systems Thinking ((CST))

  • 416 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter concludes the journey we have undertaken by examining Control Systems that make learning and knowledge possible. I have limited the examination to those Rings needed for the conscious “mind” to function, deliberately choosing as a guide Gregory Bateson’s model of the “mind” as a calculator of various levels of differences, presenting a model of how knowledge is formed through the perception and systematization of differences. I have therefore examined the problem of the formation of signs and the use of language to reveal and communicate knowledge. The reader is invited to read the initial sentences in Sect. 12.1, in which I point out the difficulties in dealing with the topic of knowledge by using mainly the sense of sight and employing a written language.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    We know nothing at all. All our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren. The real nature of things we shall never know (Albert Einstein).

    As this book deals with Control Systems considered from various points of view, a complete bibliography may appear to be boundless. Here I have only listed the works cited in the book. All the sites mentioned have been visited in April 2014. In order to make it easier for the reader to directly examine

References

We know nothing at all. All our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren. The real nature of things we shall never know (Albert Einstein).

As this book deals with Control Systems considered from various points of view, a complete bibliography may appear to be boundless. Here I have only listed the works cited in the book. All the sites mentioned have been visited in April 2014. In order to make it easier for the reader to directly examine

  • Ankersmit, F. R., & Mooij, J. J. A. (1993). Knowledge and language (Metaphor and knowledge) (Vol. III). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. In Bial, H., & Schechner, R. (2004). The performance studies reader.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (1972). See Bateson, G. (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (1979). See Bateson, G. (2002).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (2000). Steps to an ecology of mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Excerpts, Google Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (2002, 1st ed. 1979). Mind and nature: A necessary unity. Cresskill: Hampton Press. (Originally published by Bantam, 1979). Excerpts, http://www.oikos.org/mind&nature.htm

  • Bial, H., & Schechner, R. (2004). The performance studies reader. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bostic-St. Clair, C., & Grinder, J. (2001). Whispering in the wind. Scotts Valley: J & C Enterprises.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, R. B. (1953). Scientific explanation. A study of the function of theory, probability and law in science. Tarner Lectures. CUP Archive, Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceccato, S. (1969). Course in operational linguistic [italian: Corso di linguistica operativa]. Milano: Longanesi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceccato, S. (1974). The third cybernetics. For a creative and responsible mind [Original: La terza cibernetica. Per una mente creativa e responsabile]. Milan, Italy: Feltrinelli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. (1989). Microfunctionalism: Connectionism and the scientific explanation of mental states. In A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copi, I. M., & Cohen, C. (2008). Introduction to logic (14th ed.). Edinburgh, TX: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cupples, B. (1977). Three types of explanation. Philosophy of Science, 44(3), 387–408.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • de Saussure, F. (1916). Course in general linguistics [original: Cours de linguistique Générale]. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye. New York: Philosophical Library. Excerpt, http://faculty.smu.edu/dfoster/cf3324/saussure.htm

  • Eco, U. (1976). A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, G. (1989.) The remembered present by a biological theory of consciousness (review by Bobby Matherne 1997). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, G. (1992). Bright air, brilliant fire: On the matter of the mind. New York: Harper Collins, Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fodor, J. A., & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1988). Connectionism and cognitive architecture: A critical analysis. Cognition, 28(1–2), 3–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forrester, J. W. (1971). Counterintuitive behavior of social systems. Collected papers of J. W. Forrester, (pp. 211–244). Cambridge, MA: Wright-Allen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbon, D. (1998). Procedural explanations. http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer98/PragEngDialogue/pragengdialogue/node18.html

  • Hawking, S. W., & Mlodinow, L. (2010). The grand design. Bantam. Excerpt, http://bookre.org/reader?file=65691

  • Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hempel, C. G. (1965). Aspects of scientific explanation and other essays. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, T. H. (1874). On the hypothesis that animals are automata, and its history. Fortnightly Review, 16, 555–580.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jakobson, R. (1970, 1st ed. 1963). Course in general linguistics [original: Essais de linguistique générale]. Les Editions de Minuit. http://nedelcu.ca/documents/Jakobson-Theo-de-la-communication.pdf

  • Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental models: Towards a cognitive science of language, inference, and consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keil, F. C. (2005). Explanation and understanding. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 227–254. http://www.jsu.edu/dept/psychology/sebac/fac-sch/rm/Ch1-2.html

  • Kelly, G. (1955). The psychology of personal constructs. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar, E. (2008). Artificial intelligence. New Delhi: I. K. International Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. (2000). The Society of Society: The grand finale of Niklas Luhmann. Sociological Theory, 18(2), 320–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennox, J. G. (1992). Teleology. In E. Fox Keller & E. A. Lloyd (Eds.), Keywords in evolutionary biology (pp. 324–333). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1935). On the structure of the mind. In A dynamic theory of personality – Selected papers. In Read Books Ltd, (2013). http://gestalttheory.net/archive/lewinp.pdf

  • Llina’s, R., & Paré, D. (1996). The brain as a closed system modulated by senses. In R. Llinas & P. S. Churchland (Eds.), The mind-brain continuum. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lormand, E. (1991). Connectionist languages of thought. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/phil/cogsci/clot.htm

  • Luhmann, N. (1990). The cognitive program of constructivism and a reality that remains unknown. In W. Krohn et al. (Eds.), Selforganizalion. Portrail of a scientific revolution (pp. 64–85). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1995). Social systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press. (Translation of the original book written in the German language).

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1997). Theory of society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. (Translation of the original book written in the German language).

    Google Scholar 

  • Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1980, 1st ed, 1972). Autopoiesis and cognition. The realization of living. Boston: Reidel Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1987). The tree of knowledge. Biological roots of human understanding. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mella, P. (2012). Systems thinking: Intelligence in action. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mella, P. (2020). Constructing reality: The “operationalization” of Bateson’s conjecture on cognition. Cham: Springer Nature.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Neuman, Y. (2003). Processes and boundaries of the mind. New York and Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1976). Computer science as empirical enquiry: Symbols and search. Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, 19(3), 113–126.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Nöth, W. (1995). Handbook of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkel, D. H. (1993). Computational neuroscience. Scope and structure. In E. L. Schwartz (Ed.), Computational neuroscience (pp. 38–45). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1937). The construction of the real in the child [original: La construction du réel chez l'enfant]. Geneva: Delachaux et Niestlé,

    Google Scholar 

  • Plamondon, A. L. (1979). Whitehead’s organic philosophy of science. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, M. (1967). The tacit dimension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prieto, L. J. (1966). Messages et signaux. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, S., & Norvig, P. (2009). Artificial intelligence, a modern approach (3th ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, W. C. (1990). Four decades of scientific explanation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarski, A. (1944). The semantic conception of truth: And the foundations of semantics. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 4(3), 341–376.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Turing, A. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59(236), 433–460. http://www.abelard.org/turpap/turpap.htm

  • von Foerster, H. (1984). Principles of self-organization in a socio-managerial context. In H. Ulrich & G. J. B. Probst (Eds.), Self-organization and Management of Social Systems (pp. 2–24). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • von Foerster, H. (1990). Ethics and second-order cybernetics. Cybernetics & Human Knowing. http://www.imprint.co.uk/C&HK/vol1/v1-1hvf.htm

  • von Foerster, H. (2003). Understanding understanding: Essays on cybernetics and cognition. New York, Berlin: Springer. https://www.pangaro.com/Heinz-von-Foerster/Heinz_Von_Foerster-Understanding_Understanding.pdf

  • Watzlawick, P. (1976). How real is real?: Confusion, disinformation. Communication: New JorkVintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watzlawick, P. (1984). The invented reality: How do we know what we believe we know? (Contributions to Constructivism). New York: Norton & Co. https://www.academia.edu/26596026/The_Invented_Reality_How_Do_We_Know_What_We_Believe_We_Know_Contributions_to_Constructivism_

  • Wittgenstein, L. (1922). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Translated by C. K. Ogden). EBook #5740, Release Date: October 22, 2010. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mella, P. (2021). The Magic Ring Explores Cognition and Learning. In: The Magic Ring. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64194-8_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics