Abstract
Research in evolutionary biology and philosophy of biology and cognition strongly suggests that human organisms modify their environment through active processes of niche construction. Recently, proponents of the free-energy principle and variational active inference have argued that their approach can deepen our understanding of the reciprocal causal relationship between organisms and their niche on various scales. This paper examines the feasibility and scope of variational formalisations and conceptualisations of the organism-niche nexus with a particular focus on the extended active inference account. I will draw a conceptual distinction between selective niche construction, developmental niche construction, and organism-niche coordination dynamics and argue that these notions capture different causal patterns, each of which with a distinct scope. Against this background, I will analyse and discuss the extended active inference account and its strategy to integrate variational active inference with work on extended cognition. The proponents of extended active inference assume that their account can provide an explanation of selective niche construction, developmental niche construction, and organism-niche coordination dynamics. However, my key claim will be that this account has the potential to elucidate the workings of organism-niche coordination dynamics, but does not adequately capture the causal patterns of selective niche construction and developmental niche construction.
Highlights
Since the 1980s, research in evolutionary biology (Flynn et al 2013; Laland and O’Brien 2011; Laland et al 2000; Odling-Smee and Laland 2011; West and King 1987) has shown that niche construction activities by human and other animal populations are a ubiquitous phenomenon
I have explored the explanatory scope of Variational Active Inference models of the reciprocal causal relationship between organisms and their niche with a focus on the extended active inference account (Constant et al 2020) and additional considerations on the variational approach to niche construction (Constant et al 2018)
I have proposed, based on Stotz’s (2017) analysis, that the notions of selective niche construction, developmental niche construction, and organism-niche coordination dynamics refer to ontologically distinct causal patterns, each of which has a specific scope
Summary
Since the 1980s, research in evolutionary biology (Flynn et al 2013; Laland and O’Brien 2011; Laland et al 2000; Odling-Smee and Laland 2011; West and King 1987) has shown that niche construction activities by human and other animal populations are a ubiquitous phenomenon. Page 3 of 26 6 selective niche construction and developmental niche construction This claim will inspire a close examination of the feasibility and implications of a theoretical integration of the variational active inference scheme with work on extended cognition I will suggest to limit the explanatory scope of the extended active inference account on formal and conceptual grounds This conclusion comes with an invitation to the proponents of this account to elaborate on their formal and conceptual characterisation of organism-niche coordination dynamics and to show how the variational active inference scheme can elucidate selective niche construction and developmental niche construction. The notion of selective niche construction refers to a reciprocal causal relationship between the collective, cross-generational modification of the local environment by a population of organisms and the changes of selection pressures upon that population induced by it in the course of evolution
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