Fictionalism of Anticipation

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Philosophy of Mind
• Behavioral Biology

Background:

• Complex phenomena are increasingly understood through anticipatory behavior in living organisms and social systems.
• Anticipatory action enables learning, novelty seeking, and a rich experiential existence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a fictionalist standpoint as a more accurate framework for understanding anticipatory behavior.
• To challenge established passive roles of anticipatory agents in adaptation and learning theories.
• To explore the implications of fictionalist anticipation for cognition, action, and semiosis.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis and philosophical argumentation.
• Critique of representational and future-referencing frameworks of anticipation.
• Exploration of neo-Kantian and pragmatist perspectives in relation to anticipatory agents.

Main Results:

• Established frameworks imply overly passive roles for anticipatory agents.
• A fictionalist standpoint better captures the active, self-directed nature of anticipatory behavior.
• Cognizing beings enact 'existential agendas' and plausible life scripts, not just world models.

Conclusions:

• Anticipatory behavior is fundamentally fictionalist, involving the enactment of plausible life scripts.
• This fictionalist view offers a richer understanding of cognition and action.
• Feral fictionalist anticipation suggests an equivalence between semiosis (sign processes) and anticipation.