Objective embodiment of logic: from computational machines to life and intelligence?

Abstract

The subject of article is a critical analysis of the objectification of logic and, in particular, the idea of its embodiment in the living. The question of the essence and boundaries of the concept of bio-logic is raised and considered. The problem of logics's embodiment raises from its fuzzy ontological status. The novelty of the study lies in that it shows that the solution of the question of bio-logic directly depends on the question of the essence of logics as such, the views on which has gone through strong transformations during its history. Idea of logic's objectivization has became possible due to not only conceptual philosophical constructions, but also the computational revolution, which made practical implementation of logical principles in the functioning of computing machines possible. Concept of logic has subtly expanded and transformed into the idea of orderliness and algorithmicity. It is shown that such an expansive interpretation of the logical is not applicable to biosystems, because they are living totalities, where everything is reciprocal and continuously interconnected. Even such computationally similar systems as the genome and the brain turn out to be autopoietic entities that nonlinearly create themselves without following formal rules. Paradoxically, the intelligence, which was considered the cradle of logic, also turns out to be flexible and adaptive, because it is also rooted in biology. The vital fundament of living intelligence prevents its artificial modelling through logico-computational and algorithmic phenomena. Main conclusion is that question of bio-logic depends on the optics of considering logic as such, and is also associated with bio-ontology, an understanding of the essence of life. Our analysis shows that there are not sufficient grounds to recognize the existence of a special biological logic immanent to living things, which, however, has potential as a philosophical and scientific metaphor.