[FRIAM] Is Chemero TRULY a pragmatist.

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

And I quote:

 

When one proclaims oneself to be an antirepresentationalist, as proponents
of radical embodied cognitive science do, there are two things one might be
saying.  First, one might be making a claim about the nature of cognitive
systems, namely that nothing in them is a representation.  For the rest o
this chapter I will call this the metaphysical claim.  Second, one might be
claiming that our best explanation of cognitive systems will not involve
representations.  I will call this the epistemological claim.  These are
pretty clearly separate claims.  It is easy to imagine, for example, that
the metaphysical  claim is true and that humans really are just complex
dynamical systems, but they are so complex that the best way for us (with
our limited intellects) to explain them is by metaphorically or
instrumentally ascribing [to] them mental representation.  [Chemero, A.
2011. Radical embodied cognitive science.  MIT: Cambridge, MA. p67.]  

 

Given the pragmatic Maxim concerning meaning, that the meaning of a term is
just those practices of investigation that the term's use would imply, how
is this passage not anti-pragmatic?  What other truth is there but a
metaphorically or instrumentally best explanation?  

 

Chemero's overall position is that his RADICAL  embodied cognitive science
is the only rightful heir of the American Naturalism of which Peirce and
James are the progenitors.  Therefore you, many FRIAMMERS just might just
see this as a internecine dustup in the anti-representationalist coven, and
because you are computationalists (ergo, representationalists), ignore it.
That's OK.   Others may say "-ist, -ist, ist; blah, blah blah."  That's ok
too.  But perhaps those few of you who are members of the coven may want to
help me square this circle.  

 

Nick 

 

 

 

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

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