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LAWS, LANGUAGE and LIFE

Howard Pattee’s classic papers on the physics of symbols with contemporary commentary

  • Book
  • © 2012

Overview

Authors:
  1. Howard Hunt Pattee

    1. Williamstown, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi

    1. Warsaw, Poland

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • It is a unique collection of Pattee’s papers on foundational principles relating physics, life, and informational symbol systems
  • It establishes the necessity of symbolic constraints on physical laws for life and evolution
  • It is an approach to reconciling the information processing (symbolic) and dynamic models of cognition
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Biosemiotics (BSEM, volume 7)

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Commentary and History—H.H. Pattee

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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  3. Commentary and History

    1. Introduction—What These Papers Are About

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 3-30

  4. The Pattee Papers in Chronological Order

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31
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  5. The Pattee Papers in Chronological Order

    1. The Physical Basis of Coding and Reliability in Biological Evolution

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 33-54

    2. How Does a Molecule Become a Message?

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 55-67

    3. Physical Problems of Decision-Making Constraints

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 69-79

    4. Laws and Constraints, Symbols and Languages

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 81-89

    5. The Physical Basis and Origin of Hierarchical Control

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 91-110

    6. Postscript: Unsolved Problems and Potential Applications of Hierarchy Theory

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 111-124

    7. Discrete and Continuous Processes in Computers and Brains

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 125-142

    8. The Complementarity Principle in Biological and Social Structures

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 143-154

    9. Clues from Molecular Symbol Systems

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 155-163

    10. Cell Psychology: An Evolutionary Approach to the Symbol-Matter Problem

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 165-179

    11. Universal Principles of Measurement and Language Functions in Evolving Systems

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 181-195

    12. Instabilities and Information in Biological Self-organization

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 197-210

    13. Evolving Self-reference: Matter, Symbols, and Semantic Closure

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 211-226

    14. Artificial Life Needs a Real Epistemology

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 227-243

    15. The Problem of Observables in Models of Biological Organizations

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 245-259

    16. Causation, Control, and the Evolution of Complexity

      • Howard Hunt Pattee
      Pages 261-274
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Keywords

About this book

Howard Pattee is a physicist who for many years has taken his own path in studying the physics of symbols, which is now a foundation for biosemiotics. By extending von Neumann’s logical requirements for self-replication, to the physical requirements of symbolic instruction at the molecular level, he concludes that a form of quantum measurement is necessary for life. He explains why all non-dynamic symbolic and informational controls act as special (allosteric) constraints on dynamical systems. Pattee also points out that symbols do not exist in isolation but in coordinated symbol systems we call languages. Such insights turn out to be necessary to situate biosemiotics as an objective scientific endeavor. By proposing a way to relate quiescent symbolic constraints to dynamics, Pattee’s work builds a bridge between physical, biological, and psychological models that are based on dynamical systems theory. Pattee’s work awakes new interest in cognitive scientists, where his recognition of the necessary separation—the epistemic cut—between the subject and object provides a basis for a complementary third way of relating the purely symbolic, computational models of cognition and the purely dynamic, non-representational models. This selection of Pattee’s papers also addresses several other fields, including hierarchy theory, artificial life, self-organization, complexity theory, and the complementary epistemologies of the physical and biological sciences.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Williamstown, USA

    Howard Hunt Pattee

  • Warsaw, Poland

    Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi

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