
Understanding Understanding
Essays on Cybernetics and Cognition
Heinz von Foerster(Author)
Springer (Publisher)
Published on 15. October 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
XII, 362 pages
978-1-4419-2982-2 (ISBN)
Description
In these essays Heinz von Foerster discusses some of the fundamental principles that govern how we know the world and how we process the information from which we derive that knowledge. Included are path- breaking articles concerning the principles of computation in neural nets (1967), the definition of self-organizing systems (1960), the nature of cognition (1970), as well as recent expansions on these themes (e.g. "How recursive is communication," 1993). Working with Norbert Wiener, Warren McCullough, and others in the 1960s and 1970s, von Foerster was one of the founders of the science of cybernetics, which has had profound effects both on modern systems theory and on the philosophy of cognition. At the Biological Computer Laboratory at the University of Illinois he produced the first parallel computers and contributed to many other developments in the theory of computation and cognition.
More details
Edition
Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2003
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Professional/practitioner
Illustrations
XII, 362 p.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
575 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4419-2982-2 (9781441929822)
DOI
10.1007/b97451
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2007
Springer
€128.39
Available for download

Book
11/2002
Springer
€213.99
Shipment within 5-7 days
Content
On Self-Organizing Systems and Their Environments.- Computation in Neural Nets.- What Is Memory that It May Have Hindsight and Foresight as well?.- Molecular Ethology, An Immodest Proposal for Semantic Clarification.- Thoughts and Notes on Cognition.- Responsibilities of Competence.- Perception of the Future and the Future of Perception.- On Constructing a Reality.- Cybernetics of Epistemology.- Notes on an Epistemology for Living Things.- Objects: Tokens for (Eigen-)Behaviors.- Disorder/Order: Discovery or Invention?.- Cybernetics of Cybernetics.- Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics.- For Niklas Luhmann: "How Recursive is Communication?".- to Natural Magic.- Publications.