Title

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

Authors

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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