Academic articles by Terrence Deacon and colleagues addressing issues in the material emergence of information, value, purpose, function, end-directedness, life and consciousness from inanimate origins. Telos is Greek for purpose or final cause–that for which something occurs. For those who study nature either from a scientific or religious perspective, Telos has become the elephant in the room. Scientists generally deny it a role in shaping behavior, instead concentrating on understanding behavior as the product of elements, mechanisms and laws, but as a result have a hard time explaining much of what is interesting about living systems. Religious people embrace life’s purpose but have a hard time explaining how purpose emerged and evolves. Teleodynamics is the scientific study of the dynamics that give rise to purposive behavior. It seeks, and is finding a strictly scientific explanation for the physical origins of behaviors such as ours, so clearly shaped by our purposes. This research topic was formalized by Terrence Deacon, biological anthropologist (Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology, Harvard University 1984) who taught at Harvard for eight years, relocated to Boston University in 1992, and is currently Professor of Biological Anthropology and Neuroscience at Berkeley. This site shares the result of ongoing research. http://www.teleodynamics.com en-us Copyright 2008 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:43:04 +0200 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:43:04 +0200 http://www.teleodynamics.com js@teleodynamics.com () js@teleodynamics.com From matter to mattering From matter to mattering js@teleodynamics.com No http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=57 Evolution and intelligence: beyond the argument from design.... Podcasts Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:17:50 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Evolution and intelligence: beyond the argument from design. Evolution and intelligence: beyond the argument from design. 03:12:11 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=55 Multilevel selection in a complex adaptive system: the problem of language origins. Terrence W. Deacon Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Draft of chapter to be published in B. Weber & D. Depew (eds.) Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered. MIT Pre... Podcasts Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:55:02 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Multilevel selection in a complex adaptive system: the problem of language origins. Terrence W. Deacon Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Draft of chapter to be publishe Multilevel selection in a complex adaptive system: the problem of language origins. Terrence W. Deacon Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley Draft of chapter to be published in B. Weber & D. Depew (eds.) Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered. MIT Press, 2003 Abbreviated title: Multilevel Selection and Language Evolution 1. Introduction: Recipes for Failure Theories of language origins have almost universally been embarrassments to empirical science. This is because they are typically like narratives exemplifying certain linguistic theories and deep philosophical commitments, rather than efforts to understand the processes involved in generating this uniquely complex phenomenon. The reasons for this tendency are not hard to find. There is an almost complete absence of direct evidence of the process itself; an incomprehensibly complex organ (the brain) underlying the capacity to acquire and use language; and many competing philosophical preconceptions that all make strong claims about the nature of language and its role in human cognitive uniqueness. These are serious constraints and biases (though in at least one of these areas-neuroscience-there has been considerable progress in developing critical tools and compiling relevant evidence). These limits have licensed the acceptance of considerably more speculation in this field than in many others. But even as some of these limitations are becoming removed, as relevant comparative and developmental linguistic and neurological data are becoming available, I believe we are still crippled in a more fundamental way by theoretical biases and naïveté. Download PDF of full article In my opinion the greatest failure in this enterprise has been a failure to appreciate the full complexity of the evolutionary problem it poses. This is reflected in the remarkably simple evolutionary logic typically offered by standard accounts of language competence in humans. Indeed, I believe that much useful neurological and linguistic data are ignored in this enterprise while other spurious features are considered important, precisely because we tend to conceive of language in a way that ignores the complex self-organizing and evolutionary dynamics that form the very essence of its design logic. The tendency to ignore the evolutionary complexity of the problem is reflected in the plethora of scenarios based on (a) extrapolations of what are presumed to be general evolutionary trends or else on (b) one-of-a-kind special causes, which I will refer to as 'magic bullets.' In the first category are theories based mostly upon a presumed evolutionary trend toward increasing general intelligence. It is perhaps the oldest and least questioned assumption about human evolution that it is characterized by increasing intelligence resulting from an increase in brain size. A great many scenarios have been offered to explain this presumed advance from the demands of hunting and tool manufacture, to the Machiavelian demands of competing for social status in large groups, to the importance of mother-infant communication for insuring care for a helpless human infant-however, there has been little critical reflection on the underlying assumption itself. That hominid brains have enlarged with respect to the common African ape ancestor and with respect to australopithecines is without question. The assumption that this must somehow reflects an increase in intelligence is in my opinion only supported by 'just so' argumentation and precious little direct evidence. Moreover, even the evidence that is cited tends to make different and contradictory predictions, typically confounding absolute and comparative measures of brain size, and extrapolating the concept of human IQ (which is based on a collection of mostly symbolic tasks) to species unable to comprehend symbo 02:59:43 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=54 The investigation of the neural basis and evolution of language abilities is best pursued as a search for language adaptations rather than as a search for the language faculty. The species-uniqueness of language functions is contrasted with the conserved homologies linking human brain structures to ... Podcasts Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:19:29 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No The investigation of the neural basis and evolution of language abilities is best pursued as a search for language adaptations rather than as a search for the language faculty. The species-uniqueness The investigation of the neural basis and evolution of language abilities is best pursued as a search for language adaptations rather than as a search for the language faculty. The species-uniqueness of language functions is contrasted with the conserved homologies linking human brain structures to anthropoid primate brain structures, and the failure to find species-specific neuroanatomical or genetic correlates of linguistically-defined innate features of language (e.g. universal grammar). Comparisons to animal call systems demonstrate minimal anatomical overlap between language systems these vocal functions, and yet extensive overlap with the anatomical substrates of gestural language production, suggesting that language evolution did not proceed by progressive elaboration from nonhuman vocal communication. Although there are no unambiguous gross neuroanatomical dishomologies distinguishing human brains that would suggest a role in language processing, there are clear allometric deviations of quantitative traits, including both gross brain size and deviant scaling of internal structural relationships in human brains, that suggest plausible roles in language processing. Evidence of correlated changes in patterns of axonal connections also implicate the extensive allometric deviations of human brains with language adaptations. One of the most likely correlates of allometrically-related connection change related to language evolution involves the existence of direct cortical projections to the nucleus ambiguous (the laryngeal control nucleus of the brainstem), which are likely absent in other mammals. This enables humans to have articulate control over the viscero-motor lung and larynx control systems and to couple this with articulate control of the skeletal-motor tongue, facial, and jaw muscles. Tracer studies and physiological recording studies of the macaque monkey ventral premotor and prefrontal cortex provide evidence of extensive homology of connectivity, suggesting that the circuits associated with these cortical areas were recruited for language processing during human evolution. Also cells in adjacent macaque premotor cortex that differentially fire with respect to self-initiated and other-initiated grasping behaviors. This suggests that the human homologue to this or nearby areas might be relevant to the mimicry necessary to acquire language. Genetic studies of human language adaptations have identified a gene, FOXP2, that is damaged in an inherited language deficit that affects automatizion of speech and syntactic processes. It turns out to be a highly conserved gene regulating forebrain basal ganglia development in embryogenesis. The human version of the gene contains two unique point mutations, neither of which is implicated in the language disorder. The functional difference produced by these changes are not known, but appear to have spread quickly in the early human population. The homologues to this gene in other species also play roles in vocal behavior. This genetic change is probably only one of a great many that contribute the adaptation for language. These sources of comparative functional and anatomical information argue against saltationist scenarios that hypothesize a sudden recent appearance of language abilities, and instead suggest that many diverse adaptations converged to make language possible. Download PDF of full article 02:46:57 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=52 Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science Winter 2007 By Jeremy Sherman Expression College for Digital Arts and Terrence Deacon University of California, Berkeley Introduction Among the issues of greatest and most pressing interest at the interface between scientific and spiritual underst... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:16:38 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science Winter 2007 By Jeremy Sherman Expression College for Digital Arts and Terrence Deacon University of California, Berkeley Introduction Among the iss Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science Winter 2007 By Jeremy Sherman Expression College for Digital Arts and Terrence Deacon University of California, Berkeley Introduction Among the issues of greatest and most pressing interest at the interface between scientific and spiritual understandings of reality are questions regarding the nature and origins of teleological phenomena; i.e. end-directed processes and properties, like functions, representations, intentions, purposes, meanings, values, and of course subjective consciousness. We refer to this diverse array of phenomena as all exhibiting a general property we will call telos, (from the Greek: end, aim, goal, purpose, completion, fulfillment), referring to their common feature of being organized with respect to some end or intended content, and closely related to Aristotle’s notion of a final cause: that for the sake of which something exists or is done. Unfortunately, an immense logical chasm appears to exist between explanations of things given in the terms of telos and explanations given in terms of the familiar pushes and pulls of physics and chemistry. For the most part, the history of the natural sciences during the past two centuries has been characterized by a systematic effort to eliminate teleological explanations. This is because they are essentially truncated explanations; accounts of phenomena that point to black boxes and then stop. To say that an intention, belief, or desire is the cause of something does no more than point to some location, typically in a human agent, without saying anything about the specific details of the mechanism involved. There is very little doubt that physical-chemical processes taking place in a body are critical to the physical consequence that ensue, but such an account says nothing about the relationships that link these processes to the mental representations that human experience tells us were the origins of this process. So everyday human experience appears to result from an intractably contradictory combination of clockwork and purpose. Download PDF of full article Audio: Contemporary science and philosophy have not yet found an acceptable way to deal with this dilemma that both retains the precision and completeness of a scientific account and yet also does justice to the distinctiveness of teleological processes and particularly the unique internal subjective experience of representation and agency. This is not necessarily a problem for those in the two extreme camps who are either satisfied with an account of teleology as ineffable mystery or convinced that it is purely epiphenomenal. Ultimately, however, lack of a constructive scientific account of telos is a dilemma for any more modest view that both holds to the rigor of science and to the undeniable reality of teleological phenomena. This is a dilemma that must ultimately be resolved within science, by showing how telos can be both consistent with natural science and not merely impotent and illusory. Explaining and explaining away Historically, we can discern four main categories of attempts to explain or explain away telos: Preformationist answers posit that these special phenomena are already present fully formed in the very fabric of the universe. For example, some argue that the mental realm with its implicit meaning and value is pre-formed in the mind of God; or that information is a basic component of all patterned physical phenomena so that it is implicit in quantum events and intrinsic to DNA molecules. Eliminativist answers posit that these special phenomena not only aren’t as special as they appear, but in fact are conceptual mirages, the residue of pre-scientific thinking. For example, some argue that consciousness is nothing more than chemical processes in brains, that mental representation and the experience of ag 02:56:45 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=50 Our understanding of speech and language disorders may be aided by information about the constraints and predispositions contributed by neural developmental processes. As soon as we begin to look at human neuroanatomy and development from a comparative perspective, it is possible to recognize a numb... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:09:08 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Our understanding of speech and language disorders may be aided by information about the constraints and predispositions contributed by neural developmental processes. As soon as we begin to look at h Our understanding of speech and language disorders may be aided by information about the constraints and predispositions contributed by neural developmental processes. As soon as we begin to look at human neuroanatomy and development from a comparative perspective, it is possible to recognize a number of ways that human brains diverge from the general pattern of other ape and monkey brains. These divergences may offer clues to language evolution. Large-scale quantitative changes in the relative proportions of brain regions (as opposed to just overall expansion) offer some of the most obvious clues. Additional information about how axons are guided in their extensions to distant developmental targets and how competitive trophic processes sculpt these connections also provides a way to understand how gross quantitative changes in cell numbers could affect circuit organization and ultimately behavior. Download PDF of full article 02:32:26 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=48 ABSTRACT: Language is a spontaneously evolved emergent adaptation, not a formal computational system. Its structure does not derive from either innate or social instruction but rather self-organization and selection. Its quasi-universal features emerge from the interactions among semiotic constraint... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:03:49 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No ABSTRACT: Language is a spontaneously evolved emergent adaptation, not a formal computational system. Its structure does not derive from either innate or social instruction but rather self-organizatio ABSTRACT: Language is a spontaneously evolved emergent adaptation, not a formal computational system. Its structure does not derive from either innate or social instruction but rather self-organization and selection. Its quasi-universal features emerge from the interactions among semiotic constraints, neural processing limitations, and social transmission dynamics. The neurological processing of sentence structure is more analogous to embryonic differentiation than to algorithmic computation. The biological basis of this unprecedented adaptation is not located in some unique neurological structure nor the result of any single mutation, but is vested in the synergistic interaction of numerous co-evolved neurological biases and social dynamics. Download PDF of full article 02:29:20 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=46 "Two things here are all-important to assure oneself of and to remember. The first is that a person is not absolutely an individual. His thoughts are what he is "saying to himself," that is, is saying to that other self that is just coming into life in the flow of time. When one reasons, it is that ... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:50:10 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No "Two things here are all-important to assure oneself of and to remember. The first is that a person is not absolutely an individual. His thoughts are what he is "saying to himself," that is, is saying "Two things here are all-important to assure oneself of and to remember. The first is that a person is not absolutely an individual. His thoughts are what he is "saying to himself," that is, is saying to that other self that is just coming into life in the flow of time. When one reasons, it is that critical self that one is trying to persuade; and all thought whatsoever is a sign, and is mostly of the nature of language. The second thing to remember is that the man's circle of society (however widely or narrowly this phrase may be understood), is a sort of loosely compacted person, in some respects of higher rank than the person of an individual organism." (5.423) 1. Introduction Semiotics, the general theory of signs and signification, was first formally developed by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce just before the turn of the last century. Although Peirce is probably best known for being the founder of Pragmatism, these two studies are for him completely interdependent. Unfortunately, they are often treated separately by his modern interpreters. This has been paralleled by a tendency, in modern interpretations of semiotics, to neglect the pragmatic issues involved in understanding signification, focusing instead on the relationships between the sign and the signified or between signs themselves independent of what is signified. Peirce on the other hand began his study of signs as a development from a broader philosophical problem. His studies of Kant and Hegel led him quite early in his career to the discovery of a powerful categorical system. Based on three fundamental concepts which he called a First, Second, and Third, it became the cornerstone for all his later philosophical work including the theory of signs. Modern philosophers have suggested that these concepts may be among the most important contributions to philosophy by any American philosopher.3 This system has, however, all but vanished from current semiotic theories due to the difficulties of making these ideas clear (even though all aspects of his semiotic classification scheme depends on it). I will attempt here to reconstruct these ideas in the light of current advances in systems and information theories in order to reintroduce Peirce's semiotics. Without beginning from a clear understanding of these fundamental tools, with which the theory was fashioned, Peirce's semiotics must remain finally incomprehensible and arbitrary. Download PDF of full article In contrast to many current semiotic studies, Peirce did not consider it necessary as a pioneer in this area to collect, classify, and describe a wide variety of natural and man made signs. This has left a paucity of exemplars to help decode his meanings in some cases. He recognized, however, that the initial steps in this study would necessarily involve a focus on a reformulation of the metaphysical sign relation itself, so he directed most of his efforts towards the construction of this philosophical foundation. Unfortunately this system has been ignored, misunderstood, essentially abandoned by modern semioticians, even as they borrow heavily from the system of sign relations it defines. Peirce did not work backwards from examples to identifying the characteristics exhibited by different kinds of signs. Instead he began by systematically outlining all the possible varieties of signification from a general theory of the sign-function. He focused his investigation on the nature of the function itself rather than on any particular examples of signs because he recognized early on that this could be misleading. The particular quality, event or object that serves in the capacity of a signifier or sign vehicle5 need exhibit no other connection to that which it signifies except the fact that in a particular interpretive context one represents the other. This is not to say that this s 03:48:53 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=44 Abstract: Despite decades of research that has revolutionized the neurosciences, efforts to explain the major features of human brain evolution are still mostly based on superficial gross neuroanatomical features (e.g. size, sulcal patterns) and on theories of selection for high-level functions that... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:45:51 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Abstract: Despite decades of research that has revolutionized the neurosciences, efforts to explain the major features of human brain evolution are still mostly based on superficial gross neuroanatomi Abstract: Despite decades of research that has revolutionized the neurosciences, efforts to explain the major features of human brain evolution are still mostly based on superficial gross neuroanatomical features (e.g. size, sulcal patterns) and on theories of selection for high-level functions that lack precise neurobiological predictions (e.g. general intelligence, innate grammar). Beyond its large size we still lack an account of what makes a human brain different. However, advances in comparative neuroanatomy, developmental biology, and genetics have radically changed our understanding of brain development. These data challenge classic ideas about brain size, intelligence, and the addition of new functions, such as language, and they provide tools with which we can test hypotheses about how human brains diverge from other primate brains. Download PDF of full article Audio: 02:29:40 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=42 Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meaning of life, mind, and human experience that is the key to forging a new synthesis of the spiritual a... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:17:29 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meani Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meaning of life, mind, and human experience that is the key to forging a new synthesis of the spiritual and scientific world views of the next millennium. The evolutionary paradigm is relevant to the explanation of far more than just the phylogenetic history of life. Evolution-like processes are now recognized to play a significant role in processes at all levels of life, including cognition, as well as in processes that are not strictly-speaking biological, such as the formation and spread of cultural information. The power of the evolutionary paradigm is that it offers an account of design and function in the world that is emergentist and creative rather than reductionist and eliminative. Prior to this the substantial world has been viewed as passive and blindly mechanistic. By providing an alternative to the paradigms of prior design and preformation, an evolutionary emergent account of natural "design" locates the creative force in the world rather than outside of it. Similarly, an evolutionary emergent account of the neural processes underlying phenomenal experience offers a way to understand human experience and the origins of meaning and value as self-creative phenomena, rather than as passively inherited mental content. In conclusion, whereas traditional dualistic-theistic world views have been an opposed reaction to the deadening metaphor of a soulless mechanistic world, an emergent spiritualism is entirely consistent with an evolutionary world view, and can offer an unprecedented opportunity to reexamine the basis for meaning and value. Download PDF of full article 02:32:09 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63 http://www.teleodynamics.com/?p=63?file=41 Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meaning of life, mind, and human experience that is the key to forging a new synthesis of the spiritual a... Podcasts Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:17:28 +0200 js@teleodynamics.com No Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meani Abstract: An evolutionary world view is not necessarily at odds with the core values of most of the world's spiritual traditions, and may in fact offer an unprecedented new revelation about the meaning of life, mind, and human experience that is the key to forging a new synthesis of the spiritual and scientific world views of the next millennium. The evolutionary paradigm is relevant to the explanation of far more than just the phylogenetic history of life. Evolution-like processes are now recognized to play a significant role in processes at all levels of life, including cognition, as well as in processes that are not strictly-speaking biological, such as the formation and spread of cultural information. The power of the evolutionary paradigm is that it offers an account of design and function in the world that is emergentist and creative rather than reductionist and eliminative. Prior to this the substantial world has been viewed as passive and blindly mechanistic. By providing an alternative to the paradigms of prior design and preformation, an evolutionary emergent account of natural "design" locates the creative force in the world rather than outside of it. Similarly, an evolutionary emergent account of the neural processes underlying phenomenal experience offers a way to understand human experience and the origins of meaning and value as self-creative phenomena, rather than as passively inherited mental content. In conclusion, whereas traditional dualistic-theistic world views have been an opposed reaction to the deadening metaphor of a soulless mechanistic world, an emergent spiritualism is entirely consistent with an evolutionary world view, and can offer an unprecedented opportunity to reexamine the basis for meaning and value. Download PDF of full article 02:32:07