Abstract
The value of studying a phenomenon at multiple levels of analysis is often emphasized in psychology, but a lack of clarity about the nature of levels and the relations among them remains an impediment to progress. The suggestion here is that an approach combining the tenets of embodiment with the construct of the developmental system provides a way forward. Embodiment opposes the splitting off and elevation of a level of mechanisms that has characterized much of cognitive science. In contrast, a constructivist embodied approach places a level of mechanisms in the context of a formal or systems level of analysis, with developmental process framing the interpenetrating relations between levels. Such an approach stems from a relational worldview that opposes conceptual splits and posits that levels of structure and process comprise an indissociable complementarity. The combination of embodiment and developmental systems within a relational worldview is discussed and elaborated through outlining the integrative approach of relational developmental systems, which has been proposed as a scientific paradigm within which formulations of the interrelations among brain, body, and mind can be advanced.
Highlights
The value of studying a phenomenon at multiple levels of analysis is often emphasized in psychology, but a lack of clarity about the nature of levels and the relations among them remains an impediment to progress
It could be argued that cognitive science has historically been too concerned with Marr’s second level of representation and algorithm, or the level of problem-solving in terms of what symbols are needed for a solution, and the rules under which those symbols can be manipulated
It has been argued in various places that the move toward cognitivism, with its associated emphasis on Marr’s second level, was fundamentally a wrong turn in that it prevented the emergence of more integrative accounts of mental life
Summary
The value of studying a phenomenon at multiple levels of analysis is often emphasized in psychology, but a lack of clarity about the nature of levels and the relations among them remains an impediment to progress. This problem can be partly traced to an emphasis within cognitive science on the relative autonomy of each of Marr’s levels, which in turn stemmed from the proposal that a given task or problem could be solved in a myriad of ways, using different representational systems or forms of physical implementation (Fodor, 1975; Putnam, 1975; Pylyshyn, 1984).
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