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What is it to see?

H R Maturana

    Archivos De Biologia Y Medicina Experimentales
    |December 1, 1983
    PubMed
    Summary

    Seeing is not grasping an objective world but an organism

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    Area of Science:

    • Neurobiology
    • Philosophy of Mind
    • Cognitive Science

    Background:

    • Neurobiologists traditionally avoid defining
    • seeing
    • as a philosophical rather than biological question.
    • Implicit assumptions in vision research posit an objective, independent world.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To challenge the assumption of an objective world in perception.
    • To redefine seeing as an operational biological process.
    • To demonstrate that scientific explanations do not require an independent reality.

    Main Methods:

    • Operationalizing scientific explanations by focusing on action coordination.
    • Analyzing the nervous system as a closed neuronal network.
    • Examining perception through the lens of observer-environment congruence.

    Main Results:

    • Perception is described as an organism's operation within its environment.
    • Seeing is defined as a closed neuronal system operating in structural coupling.
    • Objectivity is reframed through language and coordinated actions.

    Conclusions:

    • The concept of an independent objective world is not necessary for scientific explanation.
    • Perception is an emergent property of an organism's interaction with its environment.
    • Human language constructs our objective reality through shared actions and state changes.

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