Living in Two Worlds - Why?
Fig. 1 - Experiential World and Environment World
The LTW theory of knowledge attempts to answer two fundamental questions about knowing:
- on the one hand, the classical question "What is knowledge?" (see Plato in the Socratic dialogue "Theaetetus"),
- on the other hand, the modern (systemic) question "How do we know what we know (what do we do in the process)?" (Maturana 1992).
The HOW question is the question about the process, the WHAT question is the question about the result of the knowledge process.
The answers are:
- HOW question: "Viable thinking" is the process that produces knowledge;
- WHAT question: "Viable thoughts" are the result of viable thinking (concepts, conceptual structures, ideas, etc.).
When is thinking, when are thoughts "viable"?
Thoughts are viable (von Glasersfeld 1998, p. 506) when they lead to a solution in a problem situation and when they are compatible with existing conceptual structures (absence of contradictions). If they are also consistent with conceptual structures that other people consider viable, then their viability is enhanced.
How do we use viable thinking? Thinking serves our needs for exploring the environment, for communication, for knowledge, for enjoyment, for meaning, etc.
How comes that we live in two worlds?
Something very important happens in this process of thinking, which is usually overlooked. By thinking, we position ourselves as an independent being in relation to the environment, thereby creating a division (see Fig. 1): on the one hand, the self (my experiential world), on the other, the environment (Steiner 1894). The reason for this is that our thinking system functions in such a way that we have to construct our experiential world from the ground up; we cannot derive it from the environment (as Aristotle suggested, and many after him).
Through assimilation, accommodation (Piaget 1936), and the construction, coordination, and application of thought patterns (schemes), our thinking activity generates our individual experiential world (Bettoni 2025) and thereby creates the division between experiential world and environment (self and environment).
That is why, we live in two worlds: because we think independently, individually!
But why don't we realize that we live in two worlds?
Thinking differs from all other human activities in one important respect. When we do something, we observe what we are doing, but we do not observe what we are thinking at the same time (the thinking process); we merely carry out the thought process. To observe the thinking process alongside the action, we would first have to shift our perspective to a point of view outside the activity itself. And that is not so easy!
For this reason, we are not aware that we live in two worlds.
A second reason is that, despite the separation between self and environment, we still feel that we belong to the world, that we are part of the universe. This feeling creates a constant striving to bridge the divide, a striving for unity with the world: we search for the solution to the world's riddles (e.g., in religion), we try to reconcile our inner world with the outer world (e.g., in art), we search for the laws of phenomena (e.g., in science). This perpetual human striving for unity with the world makes it difficult to recognize that we live in two worlds.
So we live in two worlds, we just don't realize it!
References
Bettoni, M. (2025) Cybernetic Model of Intelligence. Blog post of October 1st, 2025, https://marco-bettoni.blogspot.com/2025/10/cybernetic-model-of-intelligence.html
Maturana, H. (1992) Explanations and Reality. Plenary talk introduced by Prof. Helm Stierlin. Kongress "die wirklichkeit des konstruktivismus", Stadthalle Heidelberg, 18.10.1992. Online: http://www.weknow.ch/marco/A1992/Heid/Maturana921018.htm
Piaget, J. (1936) La naissance de l'intelligence chez l'enfant, Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé. 9th edition, 1977. Translated as: The Origins of Intelligence in Children (New York: International University Press, 1952) as well as The Origin of Intelligence in the Child (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953).
Steiner, R. (1894) Die Philosophie der Freiheit. Berlin: Verlag Emil Felber. English translation: "The Philosophy of Freedom".
von Glasersfeld, E. (1998) Die Radikal-Konstruktivistische Wissenstheorie, Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften, EuS 9 (1998) Heft 4, S. 503-511.
