Oswald Wiener's Theory of Thought: Conversations and Essays on Fundamental Issues in Cognitive Science

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Oswald Wiener's Theory of Thought

Conversations and Essays on Fundamental Issues in Cognitive Science

Edited by: Thomas Eder , Thomas Raab and Michael Schwarz

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110662894

About this book

Artistic research in Wiener’s œuvre

As a versatile and creative thinker, Oswald Wiener (1935—2021) developed from an artist into a researcher out of sheer necessity. At the end of his life he emphasized:　

”I do not aim at a synthesis of introspection and automata theory but rather at contrasting them. Which relationships identified in introspection can — in a fairly satisfactory way — be understood as realizations of relationships within a formal system, e.g., the formal system of automata theory. Or the other way around: How well does automata theory as a model (i.e., the computer as mental metaphor, 'Physical Symbol Systems,' today's Artificial Intelligence ...) capture essential features of human thought? What does 'in a fairly satisfactory way' mean in this context? What, and how strongly, does the formal system abstract from natural processes?“ 　

In this book, three conversations with Wiener about the development of his theory and four essays introduce and elaborate on this new ap proach to the theory of thought, which has previously received too little attention in academic discourse. A pivotal role is played by Wiener's last major essay “Cybernetics and Ghosts.”

“The collected essays in this book orbit around the mind of Oswald Wiener, becoming visible in his poignant text Cybernetics and Ghosts. The subtitle, in the no-man's-land between science and art adds an unnecessary caveat to Oswald Wiener's thoughts, because his thinking operates in a well-developed domain, just one that sadly resides in a parallel universe, one in which computer scientists are philosophers of mind, cybernetics did not die, and psychology did not end after Piaget.

Artistic research in Wiener’s (1935–2021) œuvre
Oswald Wiener’s approach to cognitive psychology
On the link between informatics and self-observation
Also available in German Oswald Wieners Theorie des Denkens 978-3-11-065960-3

Wiener's perspective becomes very timely when it comes to the current, dismal discourse about Artificial Intelligence, which is largely taking place between philosophically illiterate engineers and scientifically illiterate humanities scholars. Where the engineers present their discoveries of practically useful algorithms and the scholars their practically useful political opinions, Wiener remains a true intellectual, sifting through the phenomenology of AI systems in an attempt to understand its significance for the unanswered questions of mind, meaning and the construction of reality.”

Joscha Bach, Cognitive Scientist / AI Strategist at Liquid AI / Research Fellow at Thistledown Foundation, San Francisco Bay Area

Künstlerische Forschung im Werk Wieners
Der denkpsychologische Ansatz von Oswald Wiener
Über die Verknüpfung von Informatik und Selbstbeobachtung

Author / Editor information

Oswald Wiener (1935–2021), Thomas Eder, Thomas Raab, Vienna. Michael Schwarz, Berlin.

Reviews

„Oswald Wiener was a notable figure in the arts, in science, and in philosophy. What a pleasure to see that his remarkable efforts on the cognitive sciences are being recognized in a new book authored by his close disciples. I highly recommend it.“ (Antonio Damasio, Professor für Psychologie, Philosophie und Neurologie, University of Southern California)

***

„Oswald Wiener repräsentiert in seiner Person eine einzigartige Verknüpfung von literarischen und kognitionswissenschaftlichen Zugängen zu Fragen der künstlichen Intelligenz, der Kybernetik und des menschlichen Geistes. In Zeiten zunehmend erfolgreicher Simulation von Subjektivität ist sein originelles Denken aktueller denn je.“ (Thomas Fuchs, Karl-Jaspers-Professor für Philosophie und Psychiatrie, Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Heidelberg)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	5
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
Conversations
Literature, Language, Thought: The Beginnings Oswald Wiener and Thomas Eder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
From Machines to the Psychology of Thought Oswald Wiener and Thomas Raab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Pleomorphism in Thought and the Computational Metaphor Seed, Symbol, and the “Grounding Problem” Oswald Wiener and Michael Schwarz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Essays
Cybernetics and Ghosts. In the No-Man’s-Land between Science and Art Oswald Wiener Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Cognitive Symbols: From Ontogeny to Their Actual Genesis. A Psychogenesis Based on James Mark Baldwin and Jean Piaget Michael Schwarz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Reciting “Timidity”. Remarks on the Memorization of Speech Events Using the Example of an Ode by Friedrich Hölderlin Thomas Eder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Fantasy, Repression, and Motivation in an Ecological Model of Memory Thomas Raab Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Artists, Psychologists, Art Historians, Art Theorists
Pages
- Main content: 304
Keywords: Cybernetics; Psychology; Theory of Language; Wiener

eBook

Published: June 19, 2023
ISBN: 9783110662894

Paperback

Published: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9783110659610