Beyond Coherence

Much has happened since the 1960s and 1970s when the idea of self-organization emerged and began to alter our conceptions of human nature, of social organization, and of a social science that had heretofore been wedded to linear causal explanations. The experience that systems could organize themselves has been revolutionary and constitutes a paradigm shift that is still ongoing. In the following, I will (A) distinguish between indigenously and self-organizing systems, (B) consider autopoiesis as a biological step towards selfhood, (C) propose a way to distinguish selves and Others, and, based on this, (D) suggest self-organization to be a social phenomenon. As the notion of self-organization reconceptualizes social organization and human experience, I will close with (E), suggestions for further work on self-organization

Cognition as Embodied Morphological Computation

Cognitive science is considered to be the study of mind (consciousness and thought) and intelligence in humans. Under such definition variety of unsolved/unsolvable problems appear. This article argues for a broad understanding of cognition based on empirical results from i.a. natural sciences, self-organization, artificial intelligence and artificial life, network science and neuroscience, that apart from the high level mental activities in humans, includes sub-symbolic and sub-conscious processes, such as emotions, recognizes cognition in other living beings as well as extended and distributed/social cognition. The new idea of cognition as complex multiscale phenomenon evolved in living organisms based on bodily structures that process information, linking cognitivists and EEEE (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended) cognition approaches with the idea of morphological computation (info-computational self-organisation) in cognizing agents, emerging in evolution through interactions of a (living/cognizing) agent with the environment

Artful Citizenship Project- Year 3

Artful Citizenship is an arts-integrated social studies curriculum project designed to provide third- through fifth- grade students and teachers with the tools necessary to: * develop visual literacy skills; * implement social science content across academic content areas; * create opportunities for integrated artistic response. Artful Citizenship is a pilot educational program funded by the US Department of Education, Arts in Education, Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program. It was developed by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University (FIU) in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), Visual Understanding in Education (VUE), a non-profit organization that develops learner-centered methods that use art to teach critical thinking and visual literacy, faculty from the FIU College of Education, and a team of independent education researchers and evaluators from Curva and Associates, a private research and evaluation firm. The Wolfsonian and its partners recently completed the three years of funded activities that included development, field testing, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of Artful Citizenship as part of the core social studies and language arts curricula in the third, fourth and fifth grades at three Miami-Dade County public elementary schools. All three schools have high percentages of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who are at risk of academic failure. An additional school with similar demographics was included to serve as a comparison group for evaluation purposes. The evaluation addresses the central objectives of the program: teaching visual literacy in order to influence children's character and social development, and, ultimately, to improve academic achievement, as measured through norm-referenced tests and criterion- referenced test (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test). The psychosocial dimensions included in the evaluation were Art Self-Concept, Art Enjoyment, Academic Self-Concept, and School/Civic Orientatio

The challenge of the past for the future of the social sciences

Abstract Purpose – To demonstrate that the past of the social sciences contains all the elements of sociocybernetics and that those elements combined with the logic of modern interdisciplinary simulation research will meet challenges modern society poses to those sciences. Design/methodology/approach – A historical analysis, leading to an outline of advanced logic of social science research, shows the way to modern (computer) simulation research. Findings – When the theoretical principles of sociocybernetics are put into practice by doing (empirically based) simulation research, it can handle in a scientifically valid way a number of research questions modern complex society poses, such as how processes of self-organization in individuals, groups and institutes can be described and understood; self-organization of autobiographic memory of individuals can be simulated in a computer; these individual memories are related to collective memories of generations; these different generations of social researchers can work together and balance in a creative synergy between the wisdom of the past and surprising hypotheses of the future. Research limitations/implications – Social sciences researchers have to work with advanced logic of research such as is propagated in simulation research and by sociocybernetics. Practical implications – Different generations of sociocyberneticians here to work together in (empirically based) simulation research to demonstrate the usefulness of sociocybernetical theory and logic. Originality/value – Sociocybernetics is not an exotic field but a normal legitimate constituent of the social sciences. Keywords Scientificmanagement, Systems theory, Cybernetics, Feedback, Self assessment, Simulatio

The Self-Organization of Meaning and the Reflexive Communication of Information

Following a suggestion of Warren Weaver, we extend the Shannon model of communication piecemeal into a complex systems model in which communication is differentiated both vertically and horizontally. This model enables us to bridge the divide between Niklas Luhmann's theory of the self-organization of meaning in communications and empirical research using information theory. First, we distinguish between communication relations and correlations among patterns of relations. The correlations span a vector space in which relations are positioned and can be provided with meaning. Second, positions provide reflexive perspectives. Whereas the different meanings are integrated locally, each instantiation opens global perspectives--"horizons of meaning"--along eigenvectors of the communication matrix. These next-order codifications of meaning can be expected to generate redundancies when interacting in instantiations. Increases in redundancy indicate new options and can be measured as local reduction of prevailing uncertainty (in bits). The systemic generation of new options can be considered as a hallmark of the knowledge-based economy.Comment: accepted for publication in Social Science Information, March 21, 201