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• 8/25/2006 9:40 AM Eric Thomson wrote:
  What is the definition of the terms 'system' and 'process'?
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  1. 8/25/2006 11:48 AM kenneth aizawa wrote:
     I would say that the extended cognition literature has not much cared about this distinction, hence has not much cared about explicating it.  So, I would say we are left to our own devices in interpreting what the advocates of extended cognition mean by "processes."   By contrast, there appear to be three more or less distinguishable ideas of what is meant by a "system."  A coupled dynamical system, Haugeland's (1998) theory, and Clarks' (forthcoming) theory.  Below are passages that seem to me to hint at the diversity of ideas.
     
     

     The cognitive system does not interact with the body and the external world by means of the occasional static symbolic inputs and outputs; rather, interaction between the inner and the outer is best thought of as a matter of coupling, such that both sets of processes continually influencing [sic] each other’s direction of change (van Gelder, 1995, p. 373).

     “since the nervous system, body, and environment are all constantly changing and simultaneously influencing each other, the true cognitive system is a single unified system embracing all three” (van Gelder, 1995, 373). 

      A component is a relatively independent and self-contained portion of a system in the sense that it relevantly interacts with other components only through interfaces between them (and contains no internal interfaces at the same level).  An interface is a point of interactive “contact” between components such that the relevant interactions are well-defined, reliable, and relatively simple.  A system is a relatively independent and self-contained composite of components interacting at interfaces (Haugeland, 1998, p. 213.)

     1. The resource must be reliably available and typically invoked.

     2. Any information retrieved from the resource must be more-or-less automatically endorsed. It should not usually be subject to critical scrutiny (unlike the opinions of other people, for example).

     3. Information provided by the resource should be easily accessible as and when required.  (Cf., Clark, forthcoming, pp. xxx.)

     
     
     
     
     
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