Phenomenology and Artificial Life: Toward a Technological Supplementation of Phenomenological Methodology

    Authors

    T. Froese;S. Gallagher

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Husserl Stud.

    Keywords

    ROBOTICS; DYNAMICS; AUTOPOIESIS; COGNITION; BEHAVIOR; IGUANA; BRAIN; AGENT; MODEL; SELF; Philosophy

    Abstract

    The invention of the computer has revolutionized science. With respect to finding the essential structures of life, for example, it has enabled scientists not only to investigate empirical examples, but also to create and study novel hypothetical variations by means of simulation: 'life as it could be'. We argue that this kind of research in the field of artificial life, namely the specification, implementation and evaluation of artificial systems, is akin to Husserl's method of free imaginative variation as applied to the specific regional ontology of biology. Thus, at a time when the clarification of the essence of our biological embodiment is of growing interest for phenomenology, we suggest that artificial life should be seen as a method of externalizing some of the insurmountable complexity of imaginatively varying the phenomenon of life.

    Journal Title

    Husserl Studies

    Volume

    26

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    83

    Last Page

    106

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000279033000001

    ISSN

    0167-9848

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