Hegel’s notion of natural purpose

Michelini, Francesca

doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.05.012

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…While some attention has been devoted to the relationship between dialectics in general and predictive processing (Bolis and Schilbach, 2018), an investigation into the specifically Hegelian legacy at work in free energy minimization is long overdue. Especially since the connections between Hegelian dialectics and the notions of self-organization and autopoiesis are well-established (Žižek, 2006, 2012; Michelini, 2012; Marques, 2016; Michelini et al, 2018).…”

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For Kant, purpose remains ultimately at the level of knowledge and explanation; it is “not an objective principle but a merely regulative one, a subjective maxim of the reflecting power of judgment. Therefore it has a value that is not constitutive but simply heuristic” (Michelini, 2012; p. 135). For this reason, from the perspective of Kantian philosophy, we can only conceive of purposiveness “as if” it pertains to nature.…”

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What makes the organism contradictory is the coincidence of organization and disorganization. “For Hegel, life itself is imbued with contradiction because it is inextricably bound up with what it lacks: its identity is at one with its negation” (Michelini, 2012; p. 133). Hegel’s version of self-organization and self-production is thus a continuous process of self-preservation sustained by contradiction, through which a bounded organization is maintained.…”

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…“Although common thought has it that need indicates dependence on something else, in reality, in a paradoxical way, it is a manifestation of independence: in fact water and food would be totally indifferent to the living being and they would not be able to have a ‘positive’ relation with it if the living being was not, for Hegel, ‘the possibility of this relation’.” (Michelini, 2012; p. 137).…”

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Dialectics of Free Energy Minimization

Boonstra

Slagter

2019

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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Karl Friston’s free energy minimization has been received with great enthusiasm. With good reason: it not only makes the bold claim to a unifying theory of the brain, but it is presented as an a priori principle applicable to living systems in general. In this article, we set out to show how the breadth of scope of Friston’s framework converges with the dialectics of Georg Hegel. Through an appeal to the work of Catherine Malabou, we aim to demonstrate how Friston not only reinvigorates Hegelian dialectics from the perspective of neuroscience, but that the implicit alignment with Hegel necessitates a reading of free energy minimization from the perspective of Hegel’s speculative philosophy. It is this reading that moves beyond the discussion between cognitivism and enactivism surrounding Friston’s framework; beyond the question whether the organism is a secluded entity separated from its surroundings, or whether it is a dynamical system characterized by perpetual openness and mutual exchange. From a Hegelian perspective, it is the tension between both positions itself that is operative at the level of the organism; as a contradiction the organism sustains over the course of its life. Not only does the organism’s secluded existence depend on a perpetual relation with its surroundings, but the condition for there to be such a relation is the existence of a secluded entity. We intend to show how this contradiction—tension internalized—is at the center of Friston’s anticipatory organism; how it is this contradiction that grounds the perpetual process of free energy minimization.

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Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Habitual Anticipation Plasticity Dialecticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Dialectics of Free Energy Minimization

Boonstra

Slagter

2019

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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“…We have seen that the selfconstruction of a subject is a highly precarious process involving the enmeshment of two different domains, a self-creating form on the one hand, and the tendency of matter to dissipate in order to assume the lowest possible energy. The self-construction of a subject therefore is a process built on contradiction (Michelini 2012;Kull 2015;Weber 2016b). "Other" is already implied in "self".…”

Section: Self As Othermentioning

confidence: 99%

Poetic Objectivity

Weber

2018

sem

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In this essay I will explore the possibility of an objective ecological ethics. To do this, I follow the embodied ethos of relationships: meaningful expression and mutual sharing occuring in living organisms and systems. Living beings on various levels of identity (cellular selves, individuals, and ecosystems) strive toward increased aliveness. They are self-healing, and generate meaningful relationships, all without the need or interference of human ethical thinking. Ecosystems tend toward complexity and organisms tend to avoid their own destruction. Both tendencies create “natural values” – values not extractable into abstraction, yet nonetheless fundamentally embodied in the actions of living beings and living systems. An ethics based on these principles (or insights) is inclusive in that it can be conceived as a sort of “poetic objectivity”. Here the ethically good is the increase in “aliveness”, which can be shared by other beings, and which is only possible as “being through the other”. Aliveness is ineffable and cannot be extracted analytically. Hence it is objective only in a poetic sense that can be shared through participation. An ethics of poetic objectivity leaves room to negotiate individual relationships and narratives while providing goodness as an encompassing context tuning into the degree of sharing and mutual inspiration to be more alive. The natural values generated by sharing transformative relationships produce the whole of nature as an “ethical commons”. Its principles can be instructive in reorganising human exchange on ethical and economical levels.

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Nineteenth Century: The Romantic First Half

Fountoulakis¹

2021

Psychiatry

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Hegel’s notion of natural purpose

Cited by 12 publications

References 10 publications

The Dialectics of Free Energy Minimization

The Dialectics of Free Energy Minimization

Poetic Objectivity

Nineteenth Century: The Romantic First Half

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