Mind Everywhere: A Framework for Conceptualizing Goal-Directedness in Biology and Other Domains-Part Two

Area of Science:

• Biology
• Philosophy of Science
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Classical teleology in life sciences faces challenges with new research findings.
• Emerging field-diverse intelligence seeks commonalities across active agents.
• Current approaches to goal-directedness struggle to incorporate novel biological coordination mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To defend a new, empirically testable approach to goal-directedness in biological systems.
• To integrate mentalistic concepts (intelligence, cognition, intentionality) into biological teleology.
• To provide a framework for understanding diverse minds and advancing bioengineering.

Main Methods:

• Review of historical and contemporary debates on teleology in biology.
• Analysis of experimental results from morphogenesis and synthetic biology involving bioelectric networks.
• Development of an operationalized, mentalistic framework for studying goal-directedness.

Main Results:

• Current biological teleology inadequately explains complex cellular coordination.
• A new approach emphasizes empirical testability and discovery of novel capabilities.
• The proposed framework operationalizes teleological and cognitive claims as hypotheses of optimal interaction.

Conclusions:

• A mentalistic approach to teleology is needed to accommodate recent biological findings.
• This approach offers a more fruitful direction for experimental work and applications.
• Abandoning reductionism allows for understanding the plasticity and problem-solving of life's agents.