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Is Empiricism Empirically False? Lessons from Early Nervous Systems.
1Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland.
Biosemiotics
|September 26, 2017
Summary
The skin-brain thesis challenges empiricism, suggesting cognition arises from action, not sensory input. Early animals may achieve minimal cognition through motor activity and body-environment interactions, not traditional senses.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Philosophy of Mind
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- The traditional view posits sensory systems as fundamental for cognition.
- The skin-brain thesis proposes action and motor activity as primary for cognitive processes.
- Empiricism asserts that knowledge originates from sensory experience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate empirical evidence supporting the skin-brain thesis.
- To investigate if the skin-brain thesis can refute core tenets of empiricism.
- To explore cognition in agents lacking traditional sensory apparatus.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent research on the skin-brain thesis.
- Analysis of the evolutionary origins of nervous systems.
- Conceptual examination of cognition, action, and sensory input.
Main Results:
- The nervous system may have evolved for action coordination before sensory processing.
- Multicellular sensing can emerge from muscle contraction and motility.
- Cognition might be constituted by action-oriented feedback rather than solely sensory input.
Conclusions:
- The skin-brain thesis offers a potential empirical challenge to empiricism.
- Minimal cognition may not require traditional sensory receptors, only action.
- Endogenous motor activity is proposed as crucial for cognitive development.
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