Concepts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology

The present volume brings together current interdisciplinary research which adds up to an evolutionary theory of human knowledge, Le. evolutionary epistemology. It comprises ten papers, dealing with the basic concepts, approaches and data in evolutionary epistemology and discussing some of their most important consequences. Because I am convinced that criticism, if not confused with mere polemics, is apt to stimulate the maturation of a scientific or philosophical theory, I invited Reinhard Low to present his critical view of evolutionary epistemology and to indicate some limits of our evolutionary conceptions. The main purpose of this book is to meet the urgent need of both science and philosophy for a comprehensive up-to-date approach to the problem of knowledge, going beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of scientific and philosophical thought. Evolutionary epistemology has emerged as a naturalistic and science-oriented view of knowledge taking cognizance of, and compatible with, results of biological, psychological, anthropological and linguistic inquiries concerning the structure and development of man's cognitive apparatus. Thus, evolutionary epistemology serves as a frame­ work for many contemporary discussions of the age-old problem of human knowledge.

Contenu

Evolutionary Epistemology - A Challenge to Science and Philosophy.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Notion of the Innate - Immanuel Kant and Beyond.- 3. Patterns of Nature and the Nature of Cognition or, 'Why the Eye is Attuned to the Sun'.- 4. The Interdisciplinary Foundation of Evolutionary Epistemology.- 5. The Challenge to Science and Philosophy.- (a) Towards a New Image of Man.- (b) Towards Rationality and Objective Knowledge.- (c) Towards a New Epistemology.- 6. Summary and Conclusion.- Notes.- Evolution and Evolutionary Knowledge - On the Correspondence Between Cognitive Order and Nature.- 1. Separate Approaches.- 2. Judgements and Prejudices.- 3. The Theory of Evolution.- 4. Epistemological Questions.- 5. Nature and Thinking.- 6. A System of Hypotheses.- 7. Natural and Cognitive Order 45.- 8. The Kantian Apriori.- 9. Summary.- Notes.- A Short Introduction to the Biological Principles of Evolutionary Epistemology.- 1. Life as a Cognition Process.- 1.1 Evolution and Entropy.- 1.2 Maximization of Information in the Genome.- 1.3 Systematization of Living Order 52 1 A. The Nervous System and the Ratiomorphic Apparatus.- 1 4. The Nervous System and the Ratiomorphic Apparatus.- 2. The "Hypotheses" of the Ratiomorphic Apparatus.- 3. Summary.- Notes.- Mesocosm and Objective Knowledge - On Problems Solved by Evolutionary Epistemology.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Facts and Fits - What Evolutionary Epistemology Tries to Explain.- 3. Tenets and Traits - What Evolutionary Epistemology Does Assert.- 4. Caveats and Corrections - What Evolutionary Epistemology Does Not Assert.- 5. Mesocosm and Visualization.- 6. Projection and Reconstruction.- 7. Objectivity and Invariance.- 8. Mathematics and Reality.- 9. Causality and Energy Transfer.- 10. Mind and Evolution.- 11. Unfinished Tasks and Unsolved Problems.- Neurobiological Aspects of Intelligence.- The Evolution of Scientific Method.- 1. The Historical Background.- 2. Objective Scientific Knowledge as a Break with the Ratiomorphic Past: The "Third" Evolution.- 3. The Systematic Relationship of Empirical-Evolutionary Epistemology and Meta-Empirical or Pure "Transcendental" Epistemology.- 4. Information and Knowledge.- 5. Science as an Evolutionary Information System.- 6. The "Law of Three Stages" of the Evolution of Method.- Notes.- The Ethics of Science: Compatible with the Concept of Evolutionary Epistemology?.- 1. The Traditional Viewpoint.- 2. Values.- 3. Science.- 3.1. Objective Knowledge as the Sovereign Good.- 3.2. The Guiding Thesis of this Chapter.- 4. Motivation of Science.- 5. Scientific Communities.- 6. The Ethics of Science.- 6.1 The Intuitively Conceived Code.- 6.2 The Explicit Code.- 7. Justification of the Code (Compatibility with Evolutionary Epistemology).- 8. The Ethics of Science as a Partial Code of Conduct.- 9. Extention of the Ethics of Science to Society?.- 10. Homo investigans versus Homo politicus.- 11. Threats Bearing upon the Ethics of Science.- The Metaphysical Limits of Evolutionary Epistemology.- 1. Evolutionary Epistemology is a Philosophical Proposal.- 2. As a Philosophical Theory, Evolutionary Epistemology is a Variant of Naturalistic Realism.- 3. Evolutionary Epistemology and Causality.- 4. Difficulties with the Principle of "Fulguration".- 5. By Its Claim to Truth, Evolutionary Epistemology Annuls Itself.- 6. Evolutionary Epistemology is Unable to Support Its Own Ethical Claims.- 7. Evolutionary Epistemology and Ethics.- Notes.- Selected Bibliography.- Evolutionary Causality, Theory of Games, and Evolution of Intelligence.- 1. A Model for Evolutionary Causality.- 2. The Equivalence of the Theory of Evolution and Dynamic Games.- 3. Evolutionary Epistemology, Memory, and Intelligence.- References.- Evolutionary Epistemology - A New Copernican Revolution?.- Notes.- Appendix. The Logical Basis of Evolutionary Epistemology.- 1. The Limits of the Analytical Approach.- 2. The Logical Structure of the Evolutionary Approach to Epistemological Questions.- 3. Consistency Proof for Riedl's Probability Hypothesis.- 4. The Problem of Theoretical Terms in Evolutionary Perspective.- 4.1 The Structure of Theoretical Terms.- 4.2 Why Theoretical Terms Remain a Problem.- 4.3 The Example of the Term "Homology": Towards a Nonlinear Logic?.- Notes.- Index Of Names.- Index of Subjects.