Timo Jarvilehto (1998) Knowledge Must be Unitary in Order to Achieve Results
. Psycoloquy: 9(55) Efference Knowledge (3)
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Psycoloquy 9(55): Knowledge Must be Unitary in Order to Achieve Results
KNOWLEDGE MUST BE UNITARY IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE RESULTS
Reply to Rickert on Efference-Knowledge
Timo Jarvilehto
Department of Behavioral Sciences
University of Oulu
PB 222, 90571 Oulu
Finland
http://wwwedu.oulu.fi/homepage/tjarvile/indexe.htm
tjarvile@ktk.oulu.fi
Abstract
Rickert (1998) mistakenly thinks that I tried in my
target article (Jarvilehto 1998d) to refute the idea that knowledge
is transmitted through sensory systems. My aim was rather to show
that _if_ we refute this idea, as proposed, in the theory of the
organism-environment system (Jarvilehto 1998a), we can still make
sense of the role of receptors and account for the existence of
efferent influences on receptors, and in an even more consistent
way than in traditional sensory physiology. Rickert does not think
it is possible to build any theory of cognition on this basis.
However, if knowledge is related to the structure of the whole
organism-environment system, and conscious knowledge to social
relations rendering shared results possible, then a theory of
cognition separating an agent and the object of knowing is
impossible.
Keywords
afference, artificial life, efference, epistemology,
evolution, Gibson, knowledge, motor theory, movement, perception,
receptors, robotics, sensation, sensorimotor systems, situatedness
References