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Introduction
In the evolving landscape of cognitive science, Christophe Rigon’s concept of “second-order rationality” within the framework of scybernethics offers a fresh perspective on cognition and its relationship to the world. This article explores how Rigon’s second-order rationality differs from traditional first-order rationality, while integrating the three key paradigms of cognitive science: cognitivism, connectionism, and enaction.
The Natural Attitude and First-Order Rationality
First-order rationality, rooted in our phenomenological “natural attitude,” focuses on objective, propositional, and rule-based reasoning. This natural attitude, as described by Husserl, begins with beliefs supposedly corresponding to things in nature and works toward a theory inclusive of the activity of the animal who has those beliefs. It emphasizes logical coherence and formal systems, often reducing cognition to mechanistic processes.
Cognitivism and Connectionism
Cognitivism views the mind as an information processing system, similar to a computer1. It focuses on producing models of the mind, seeing abstraction as constituting what mind or cognition is. This approach emphasizes explicit and symbolic representations that denote external objects, assuming an absolute and accessible ontology.
Connectionism models mental phenomena as emergent processes of interconnected networks of simple units. It emphasizes the brain as the main source of metaphors and ideas, starting with neural-like, simple components that, when appropriately connected, exhibit interesting global properties. Connectionism relies on gradual changes in connections between these components to embody cognitive capacities.
Transcending the Natural Attitude: Second-Order Rationality and Enaction
Rigon’s second-order rationality, as part of the scybernethics framework, incorporates reflexivity, embodiment, and existential concerns. It aligns closely with the enactive paradigm, which argues that cognition arises through dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment.
Second-order rationality recognizes the observer’s role in the cognitive process, acknowledging that the act of knowing is also shaped by the knower. This aligns with the idea that “an observer is its own ultimate object,” (von Foerster, second-order cybernetics) emphasizing the importance of self-awareness in the process of reasoning.
Key Aspects of Second-Order Rationality in Scybernethics
- Regulatory and homeostatic: It acts as a regulatory mechanism maintaining balance in cognitive processes.
- Meaning-making: It emphasizes the creation and interpretation of meaning, moving beyond mere logical processing.
- Co-determination: It involves simultaneous co-determination of different aspects of cognition.
- Creative cognition: It incorporates aspects of creative thinking and intuition.
- Technological hermeneutics: It considers the role of technology in shaping our understanding of the world.
- Existential dimension: It includes an existential component, considering how rational processes relate to broader questions of being.
- Self-reflexivity: It involves a level of self-awareness in rational processes.
Integrating and Transcending Perspectives
While first-order rationality and its associated paradigms (cognitivism and connectionism) operate within the natural attitude, second-order rationality in scybernethics integrates and transcends these perspectives (Meta-Dualism). It acknowledges the value of objective knowledge and technological tools while recognizing their limitations and situating them within a broader, more reflexive framework.
This integration is evident in scybernethics’ approach, which combines “iterative historical stabilizations of scientific cultural formalizations and methodologies, phenomenological inquiry and computer simulation hermeneutics”. It recognizes the importance of both first-person enactive research and second-order cybernetics, bridging subjective experience with objective inquiry in a 1P-3P epistemological approach combining both, without dissolving them. It leads to a new phenomenological and cognitive domain of knowledge similar to the technologically-induced “cyberspace”, but induced this time by cognitive epistemology (scyberspace?!).
Conclusion
Christophe Rigon’s concept of second-order rationality within the scybernethics framework offers a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of human cognitive processes. By integrating aspects of embodiment, creativity, technology, and existential concerns, it provides a more holistic view of rationality that transcends the natural attitude.
As we navigate the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the emerging era of generative artificial intelligence, this expanded understanding of rationality (rationality²) becomes increasingly crucial. It encourages us to consider not just how we process information, but how we create meaning, interact with our environment, and understand our place in the world. In doing so, it offers a path towards a more ethical and participatory approach to knowledge and technology, one that recognizes the full complexity of human cognition and experience.
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