we know

Ceccato 1970: Analisi operativa di "Responsabilità" e "Rischio"

2012-01-03T22:11:00.000+01:00

"... Si provi ad aprire la mano sentendo prima la "responsabilità" e poi il "rischio" di quell'aprire. Pur senza condurre l'analisi sino alle complesse combinazioni di stati attenzionali, credo non possa sfuggire una fondamentale antitesi fra due gruppi di operazioni che costituiscono i due atteggiamenti. L'assunzione della responsabilità introduce un soggetto di due attività di cui l'aprire

Resposibility: a cybernetic model

2011-12-31T00:33:00.000+01:00

What could be a definition (explanation) of "Responsibility"? Starting with an operational definition by Silvio Ceccato (1970) and inspired by what Humberto Maturana called a "generative mechanism" I have tried to draft it here: as "a proposition which consists in a process or a mechanism that if it were to be allowed to operate" (Maturana 1992) would give as a consequence, as a result the

What means Cyber Ethics?

2011-12-14T21:24:00.000+01:00

... I guess the discipline dealing with "ethical computer use and behavior" in all application domains; for the domain of education see International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education (IJCEE) Published Quarterly. Est. 2011

What means "Cybernetics"?

2011-12-11T09:46:00.001+01:00

I searched Wikipedia for a definition of the term "Cybernetics" and found a sentence, that in my view is rather wrong and misleading for various reasons (Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics, 11.12.2011). Then I searched on the website of the American Society for Cybernetics (http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/

What Marcuse missed in Bridgman

2011-10-29T16:54:00.001+02:00

Marcuse saw in Bridgman's Operationalism a "total empiricism in the treatment of concepts" because it required an "adequate account of them in terms of operations"; he estimated that this approach was predominant "in philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other fields" and lamented that as a consequence "Many of the most seriously troublesome concepts are being "eliminated”." (Marcuse, 1964 "The

Erzeugung der Realität und Verantwortung

2011-06-14T22:12:00.000+02:00

"Wir bringen die Welt hervor, die wir leben. Weil das so ist, denke ich, dass wir alle Verantwortung übernehmen müssen für unsere Handlungen in Hinblick auf die Konsequenzen unserer Handlungen für andere menschliche Wesen." Maturana (1998), S. 20 "Dies bedeutet auch, dass wir Verantwortung für unsere Handlungen und Emotionen übernehmen oder nicht ... gemäss der Anerkennung oder Ablehnung unserer

The sleep of dogmatism and its function

2011-06-10T10:36:00.001+02:00

We sleep an intellectual sleep; it is the sleep of dogmatism - or “slumber” as Kant called it (1783). Why this dogmatic sleep? Because this sleep helps us. How? Its function is to protect us against the troublesome affordances and the boulversing power of a question: how could the reality we refer to be constituted also by profound inner patterns and images made by ourselves? To ask this

Kant 1783 - Dogmatic slumber

2011-06-10T09:57:00.001+02:00

"I openly confess, the suggestion of David Hume was the very thing, which many years ago first interrupted my dogmatic slumber, and gave my investigations in the field of speculative philosophy quite a new direction." Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783) full text on wikisource.org "J’avoue de grand cœur que c’est à l’avertissement donné par David Hume que je dois d’

Ceccato 1946 - the birth of a paradigm shift

2011-05-27T10:59:00.002+02:00

Today, 27. May 2011, I would like to tell a story of 1946 about the birth of a new research paradigm, that one day will be recognized as a crucial paradigm shift in science. My narration is based on what Silvio Ceccato himself told me and also wrote in his books, for example: Ceccato, S. (1968) Cibernetica per tutti, Vol. 1, Milano: Feltrinelli, 1968, p. 176. Under the title "Order and Life",

Bleep (movie)

2010-12-22T00:31:00.001+01:00

I saw the film when it came out and again last monday (Dec. 20) because my 16 years old daughter wanted to see it. She asked for explanations about many scenes, dialogues, sentences, terms and I realized that it was difficult for me to explain to her my intuitive understanding of the movie. Why? Because my way of explaining is constrained by the established type of thinking in science and common

David K. Johnson - Sleepysand in the Mind’s Eye

2010-12-02T10:45:00.004+01:00

The newest critique to Radical Constructivism (RC), an article by David K. Johnson titled "Footprints in the Sand" in Constructivist Foundations 6 (1), does in no way contribute to understand the weaknesses of Radical Constructivism, it is merely sleepysand in the mind's eye: http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/6/1 http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/journal/6/1/090.johnson At the

Fundamental human factor

2010-12-01T16:37:00.000+01:00

In a paper published this year I wrote: Recent developments in brain sciences show an increasing tendency to determinism: the denial of the possibility of choice. This is the (logical) consequence (and demonstration) of the underlying assumption that knowledge is the logic of reality. But we are not like stones rolling downhill (Spinoza): the power to choose is a constitutive and unalienable

Ernst von Glasersfeld in Beats Biblionetz

2010-12-01T10:26:00.003+01:00

In Beats Biblionetz gibt es im Bereich Personen den Eintrag Ernst von Glaserfeld mit Texte Definitionen Bemerkungen zu Personen, Bücher, Texte, Fragen, Aussagen persönliche Bemerkungen Biographie (aktualisiert 1999) CoautorInnen Zitationsnetz Interessant wäre zu jedem Autor ein "Aussagen-Netz" mit allen wichtigen Aussagen des Autors zu seinen wichtigsten Begriffen aus allen seinen Werken.

Anaxagoras - the mind causes all things

2010-11-28T14:55:00.002+01:00

In the Phaedo, Socrates says .... “Then one day I heard a man reading from a book, as he said, by Anaxagoras, [97c] that it is the mind that arranges and causes all things. I was pleased with this theory of cause, and it seemed to me to be somehow right that the mind should be the cause of all things, and I thought, 'If this is so, the mind in arranging things arranges everything and establishes

Plato - Unwritten Doctrines

2010-11-28T14:39:00.002+01:00

Giovanni Reale wrote in his History of Ancient Philosophy (1992): ... the writings have not been for Plato the full expression or the most important communication of his thought, and therefore the reading and the interpretation of the dialogues are to be reassessed through a new vision. (p. 8) We are hence able ... to understand why so great a writer could be convinced of the limited character of

Socrates on "absolute beauty" ...

2010-11-27T14:13:00.002+01:00

In the Phaedo, Socrates is quoted as follows .... “Then,” said he, “see if you agree with me in the next step. I think that if anything is beautiful besides absolute beauty it is beautiful for no other reason than because it partakes of absolute beauty; and this applies to everything. Do you assent to this view of cause?” Plato, Phaedo, section 100c in: Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1

Why responsible? EvG 2002

2010-11-25T00:11:00.003+01:00

In 2002 Ernst von Glasersfeld wrote in his obituary for Heinz von Förster: Heinz put the new view into a nutshell: «Objectivity is the delusion that observations could be made without an observer.» Instead of worrying about an inaccessible external reality he focused attention on the world we build in the course of interactions with others in the domain of our experience. Though this

How do we know? EvG 1996

2010-11-25T00:01:00.004+01:00

In 1996 Ernst von Glasersfeld wrote: The concept of knowledge is thus actually changing. Traditional philosophy was forever searching for timeless truths that would be independent of the thinking subject. With the spreading of the Kantian insight that what we rationally grasp is always what human reason builds up according to its own rules, interest has been growing in how this building-up

Knowledge: making sense of experience - EvG 1990

2010-11-24T23:53:00.004+01:00

In 1990 Ernst von Glasersfeld wrote: If the view is adopted that “knowledge” is the conceptual means to make sense of experience, rather than a “representation” of something that is supposed to lie beyond it, this shift of perspective brings with it an important corollary: the concepts and relations in terms of which we perceive and conceive the experiential world we live in are necessarily

Man alone is responsible for his thinking - EvG 1984

2010-11-24T23:40:00.005+01:00

In 1984 Ernst von Glasersfeld wrote: "Indeed, one need not enter very far into constructivist thought to realize that it inevitably leads to the contention that man – and man alone – is responsible for his thinking, his knowledge and, therefore, also for what he does." "Today, when behaviorists are still intent on pushing all responsibility into the environment, and sociobiologists are trying to

From Awareness to Free Will

2010-11-24T22:56:00.003+01:00

E. Spittle (2005) writes about the principle of Consciousness according to Sidney Banks: "What was very helpful to me was seeing that Consciousness is awareness of and how we create experience. That opened a new door of understanding for me. Being aware of experience on an external level is helpful, but being aware of how we create experience is the true gift. Here is where free will comes into

Einstein 1954 - one great mistake in my life

2010-11-19T01:04:00.002+01:00

According to R. Clark, in November 1954 - five months before his death - Einstein said: "I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification - the danger that the Germans would make them." quoted in Ronald Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times, pg. 752 Source: http://www.doug-long.com/

Two old italian disputes

2010-11-18T15:01:00.000+01:00

In the Middle Age disputations "offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences" (Wikipedia). Bonvesin de la Riva, a Milanese writer and teacher of the 13th century, wrote some of them, for example (in old Western Lombard language): Disputatio rosae cum viola - rose and violet debate about who is more beautiful Disputatio musce cum

End of an experiential world

2010-11-16T11:50:00.001+01:00

Ernst von Glasersfeld, an internationally influential cybernetician, originator and developer of Radical Constructivism, died last Friday (Nov. 12th at 7 am EST) at the age of 93 in Amherst (Massachusetts) or, in his own words "entered the eternal skislopes". An obituary will follow on the pages of OIKOS (http://www.oikos.org/psicen.htm) and ASC (http://www.asc-cybernetics.org). Our acquaintance

Ende einer Erfahrungswelt

2010-11-15T21:03:00.009+01:00

Ernst von Glasersfeld, Begründer des Radikalen Konstruktivismus, ist am vergangenen Freitag (12. November um 13 Uhr MEZ) im Alter von 93 Jahre in Amherst (Massachusetts) gestorben oder, wie er sagte, "in die ewigen Skipisten eingefahren". Nachrufe z.B. in der FAZ oder der Standard, Wien. Unsere Bekanntschaft begann im Frühjahr 1985: Ernst rief mich aus Athens (Georgia, USA) an, auf meiner

Ziel der Wissenschaft

2010-11-11T18:29:00.003+01:00

Bertolt Brecht, Leben des Galilei, Frankfurt a/M: Suhrkamp Verlag, edition suhrkamp 1, 1975, 18. Auflage, S.125: "GALILEI: Ich halte dafür, dass das einzige Ziel der Wissenschaft darin besteht, die Mühseligkeit der menschlichen Existenz zu erleichtern."

The choice is ours ...

2010-11-10T13:07:00.004+01:00

In the Introduction to "Wisdom for Life: Three Principles for Well-being" Elsie Spittle writes about the Three Principles discovered by Sydney Banks: The principle of Mind is universal creative energy. Consciousness is the ability to be aware of this power and to understand how experience is created. Thought is the capacity to draw on this energy in order to create our experience of reality. We

Begriff Verantwortung - Biblionetz

2010-11-05T11:16:00.014+01:00

Beat Döbeli bietet auf seinem Biblionetz eine interessante Sammlung zum Begriff "Verantwortung" http://beat.doebe.li/bibliothek/w00005.html Der Spruch von Heinz von Förster: "Wissen bedeutet Verantwortung" steht im Buch Sicht und Einsicht im Text Die Verantwortung des Experten (1971) auf Seite 23. In einem Interview von 2006 sagte ich: "Auch für das vorhandene, bereits etablierte Wissen

Visual phenomena sites

2010-11-03T11:06:00.000+01:00

... suggested by Pascal: Michael Bach, prof. Univ. of Freiburg (D) http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/ http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/augenklinik/live/homede/mit/bach_en.html Sandro Del Prete, a Swiss artist: http://www.sandrodelprete.com/ http://www.illusorialand.ch/index.php?lang=en

Debate and Argument - E. de Bono

2010-10-30T17:08:00.002+02:00

In our Western culture argument "is the basis of our search for truth and the basis of our adversial system in science, law and politics." (de Bono 1991:5). The use of argument as the central method of traditional conversation in law, politics and science results in a "strong tendency towards negativity and attack" (de Bono 1991:7). "By means of argument which manoeuvres matters into a

Dialogue - D. Bohm

2010-10-30T15:19:00.003+02:00

http://www.slideshare.net/dgurteen/knowledge-cafe-workshop-may-2008-01 slide 16

Dialogue - Th. Zeldin

2010-10-30T15:16:00.004+02:00

http://www.slideshare.net/dgurteen/knowledge-cafe-workshop-may-2008-01 slide 15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Zeldin http://muse.prettygetter.tv/

Conversation: From Debate to Dialogue - D. Gurteen

2010-10-30T15:15:00.004+02:00

http://www.slideshare.net/dgurteen/knowledge-cafe-workshop-may-2008-01 slide 14 http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/kcafehttp://www.gurteen.com/

Conversation is a meeting of minds - Th. Zeldin

2010-10-30T15:14:00.001+02:00

http://www.slideshare.net/dgurteen/knowledge-cafe-workshop-may-2008-01 - slide 12

We need a change in conversation habits ...

2010-10-30T10:59:00.002+02:00

... "from confrontational habits to more constructive habits" Edward de Bono (1991) I am right, you are wrong. Penguin: London, p. 2

La cara oculta de la luna (far side of the moon) ...

2010-10-30T09:05:00.001+02:00

... es el hemisferio de la Luna no observable desde la Tierra (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cara_oculta_de_la_Luna) Lo mismo ocurre con nuestra visión de nosotros mismos (the same happens with our view of ourselves).

Spannende Gedanken zu Dialog ...

2010-10-29T12:00:00.003+02:00

... von Rolf Todesco http://rolftodesco.wordpress.com/

Derogatory language - view from sociology

2010-10-29T10:36:00.001+02:00

Found some interesting statements from sociology about derogatory language: Sociologists point to derisive language as an indicator of flawed reasoning ... a fundamental axiom of sociology recognizes that derogatory forms of speech make erronious attributions .... Scholars classify the erroneous assumptions as the fundamental attribution error Source: http://www.jahsonic.com/Derogatory.html

How thinking can alter perception - Nature News 27.10.2010

2010-10-29T08:42:00.003+02:00

On Nature online a news article reports about research by Cerf, M. et al. Nature 467, 1104-1108 (2010) which shows how humans can use thinking to alter perception of competing visual images Source: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101027/full/news.2010.568.html In the news Dr. Moran Cerf gives an interesting interpretation of his EXPERIMENTS: "The environment offers some reality," he says, "but

Passion and Reason - Erasmus of Rotterdam

2010-10-28T10:50:00.001+02:00

that the life of man might not be altogether disconsolate and hard to away with, of how much more passion than reason has Jupiter composed us? putting in, as one would say, "scarce half an ounce to a pound." The Praise of Folly (1511) - Translated by John Wilson 1668 1 pound = 16 ounces => 1 part of reason for 32 parts of passion or [reason = 3% of passion] German: Nun, wieviel mehr

Life as a play - Erasmus of Rotterdam

2010-10-28T10:06:00.001+02:00

For what is life but a play in which everyone acts a part until the curtain comes down? The Praise of Folly (1511)

Neurons as puppet masters

2010-10-26T13:46:00.002+02:00

Antonio Damasio & Kaspar Meyer write in Nature 454, 167-168 (10 July 2008) "Convergence–Divergence Zones" (CDZs) – (‘mirror neurons’) that mirror neurons act not so much as "mirrors" but "more like puppet masters, pulling the strings of various memories." Source: Recent research related to memory The authors are dealing with neurons and brains, my allegory deals with thought and minds: not

The All-in-one Puppeteer - A Constructivist Allegory

2010-10-23T11:17:00.002+02:00

Zwei Vorteile des Radikalen Konstruktivismus

2010-09-26T14:16:00.001+02:00

"Radikaler Konstruktivismus - Versuch einer Wissenstheorie" (abgetippt aus der CD zum Buch): .... Deswegen habe ich oft gesagt, der Konstruktivismus macht das Leben so viel schöner und einfacher weil man den Drang Recht zu haben verliert, das ist nicht möglich ... ... (Spur 8 / 8:11) ... aber auch hier sehe ich einen Vorteil des konstruktivistischen Denken, weil man dann sehr

Una visita

2010-09-24T12:43:00.002+02:00

Mercoledì scorso ho ricevuto una visita speciale ... l'ho raccontata nel blog di Chiara Sampaolesi "Forza educatrice"