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Information without content: a Gibsonian reply to enactivists' worries
Ludger van Dijk1, Rob Withagen1, Raoul M Bongers1
1Center for Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands.
Cognition
|December 3, 2014
Summary
This study clarifies that ecological information, when viewed as information for affordances, can be used without implying content. This supports radical enactivism by integrating the basic mind into complex coordination systems.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Ecological Psychology
- Enactivism
Background:
- Radical enactivism in cognitive science expresses concerns about information carrying content.
- Ecological psychology, particularly Gibson's later work, offers a framework for understanding information without content.
Purpose of the Study:
- To reconcile radical enactivism with ecological approaches to information.
- To demonstrate how ecological information can be conceptualized as content-less.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of James J. Gibson's later concept of information.
- Reinterpretation of ecological information as 'information for affordances' rather than 'information about'.
- Examination of the vocabulary used in ecological psychology.
Main Results:
- Gibson's concept of information can be interpreted as content-less.
- A shift towards cognitivistic vocabulary in ecological psychology has obscured this content-less notion.
- Information for affordances provides a viable content-less concept of information.
Conclusions:
- Radical enactivism can benefit from adopting a content-less view of ecological information.
- This approach helps integrate the 'basic mind' within larger-scale coordination.
- Strengthens non-representational approaches in cognitive science.
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