Abstract
AbstractThe operationalization of socio-cognitive structures in terms of observables such as texts (e.g., in discourse analysis and scientometrics) or the behavior of agents (e.g., in the sociology of scientific knowledge) may inadvertedly lead to reification. The dynamics of knowledge are not directly observable, but knowledge contents can be reconstructed. The reconstructions have the status of hypotheses; hypotheses can be tested against observations. Whereas agent-based modelling (ABM) focuses on observable behavior, simulations based on algorithms developed in the theory and computation of anticipatory systems (CASYS) enable us to visualize the incursive and recursive dynamics of knowledge at the individual level as different from the potentially hyper-incursive dynamics at the intersubjective level. The sciences can be considered as “strongly anticipatory” at this supra-individual level: expectations are discursively reconstructed in terms of next generations of expectations. This reflexive restructuring is embedded in historical dynamics on which it feeds back as a selection environment. The agents and texts entertain discursive models and thus be considered “weakly anticipatory” participants in the communication.
Highlights
(2) Objective knowledge, for example, scientific knowledge which consists of conjectural theories, open problems, problem situations, and arguments
Can the dynamics of Popper’s “objective knowledge” in World 3 be specified as a selection mechanism? Are incursive and hyper-incursive selection mechanisms different from recursive ones so that we can envisage to answer Luhmann’s (1971, p. 34; 1990a, b, at p. 27) quest for a selection mechanism that does not shrink, but enriches the data? “[W]hat is special about the meaningful or meaning-based processing of experience is that it makes possible both the reduction and the preservation of complexity; i.e., it provides a form of selection that prevents the world from shrinking down to just one particular content of consciousness with each act of determining experience.”
Three elements relevant to my argument were articulated in Popper’s philosophy of science: (i) scholarly discourse is constitutive for the development of knowledge at the supra-individual level; (ii) the growth of knowledge operates with another time direction than biological evolution; and (iii) the emerging World 3 exhibits aautonomous dynamic
Summary
The operationalization of socio-cognitive structures in terms of observables such as texts (e.g., in discourse analysis and scientometrics) or the behavior of agents (e.g., in the sociology of scientific knowledge) may inadvertedly lead to reification. Synergies based on interactions among codes in the communication can induce a knowledge base which operates in terms of expectations One can consider this as reactiondiffusion dynamics and its bifurcations Avoiding this abstract vocabulary, Luhmann formulated as follows: All communication is an operation that takes place concretely under the direction of specific meaning intentions. Luhmann formulated as follows: All communication is an operation that takes place concretely under the direction of specific meaning intentions It is concerned with the truth of certain statements, compliance with certain instructions, the purchase of certain objects, certain signs of love—or indifference. When a routine is evaluated as “false,” the prevailing regime of a “do while true” loop is interrupted and another routine is invoked
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