Version 1
: Received: 30 January 2024 / Approved: 31 January 2024 / Online: 31 January 2024 (07:00:10 CET)
How to cite:
Nakajima, T. Unification of Mind and Matter through Hierarchical Extension of Cognition: A New Framework for Adaptation of Living Systems. Preprints2024, 2024012156. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.2156.v1
Nakajima, T. Unification of Mind and Matter through Hierarchical Extension of Cognition: A New Framework for Adaptation of Living Systems. Preprints 2024, 2024012156. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.2156.v1
Nakajima, T. Unification of Mind and Matter through Hierarchical Extension of Cognition: A New Framework for Adaptation of Living Systems. Preprints2024, 2024012156. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.2156.v1
APA Style
Nakajima, T. (2024). Unification of Mind and Matter through Hierarchical Extension of Cognition: A New Framework for Adaptation of Living Systems. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.2156.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Nakajima, T. 2024 "Unification of Mind and Matter through Hierarchical Extension of Cognition: A New Framework for Adaptation of Living Systems" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202401.2156.v1
Abstract
Living systems must solve the problem of realizing their environment to act appropriately to maintain external relationships and internal order for survival and reproduction. This problem is a biological version of the philosophical enigma of how the self can escape solipsism. This study develops a comprehensive model to solve this adaptation problem. LSs must be composed of material entities that have the property of detecting their external states. The detection of the outside is conceptualized as “cognition,” a related state change that occurs at three levels of nested hierarchy: physical, chemical, and semiotic cognitions. Any entity that cognizes the surroundings is a “cognizer.” The hierarchical extension of cognition to all levels of the world provides a monistic view that only cognizers exist. Semiotic cognition is essential for the emergence and evolution of life. Living systems invented semiotic cognitions based on physical and chemical cognitions to manage the probability distribution of events that occur to them. This study proposes a theoretical model in which semiotic cognition is an adaptive process in which inverse causality operations produce particular internal states as symbols that signify hidden external states. This operation makes the living systems aware of the external world.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
