"As a metaphor - and I stress that
it is intended as a metaphor - the concept of an invariant that arises out of mutually or
cyclically balancing changes may help us to approach the concept of self. In cybernetics
this metaphor is implemented in the ‘closed loop’, the circular arrangement of
feedback mechanisms that maintain a given value within certain limits. They work toward an
invariant, but the invariant is achieved not by a steady resistance, the way a rock stands
unmoved in the wind, but by compensation over time. Whenever we happen to look in a
feedback loop, we find the present act pitted against the immediate past, but already on
the way to being compensated itself by the immediate future. The invariant the system
achieves can, therefore, never be found or frozen in a single element because, by its very
nature, it consists in one or more relationships - and relationships are not in things but
between them.
If the self, as I suggest, is a relational entity, it cannot
have a locus in the world of experiential objects. It does not reside in the heart, as
Aristotle thought, nor in the brain, as we tend to think today. It resides in no place at
all, but merely manifests itself in the continuity of our acts of differentiating and
relating and in the intuitive certainty we have that our experience is truly ours."
Ernst von Glasersfeld - p.p.186-7:
‘Cybernetics, Experience and the Concept of Self.’ [1970]
BIOGRAPHY
Ernst von
Glasersfeld is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia,
Research Associate at the Scientific Reasoning Research Institute, and Adjunct Professor
in the Dept. Of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a member of
the Board of Trustees, American Society of Cybernetics, from whom he received the
McCulloch Memorial Award in 1991; and a Member of the Scientific Board, Instituto Piaget,
Lisbon.
Philosopher & Cybernetician he spent large parts of his life
in Ireland [1940s], in Italy [1950s] and the USA [current]. Elaborating upon Vico,
Piaget’s genetic epistemology, Bishop Berkeley’s theory of perception, James
Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and other important texts, Ernst developed his model of Radical Constructivism - which is an ethos shared by all of
these writers to one degree or another, sometimes it is difficult to see where their
epistemological agreements begin and end - but that is part of the fun.
IDIOSYNCRASIES
No matter how long the talk or lecture, has never been seen to use any notes; Likes drinking
Guinness in Co. Wicklow.
In Memoriam H.v.F.
Obituary
for Heinz von Foerster by Ernst von Glasersfeld [11.04.02]
ARTICLES
The
Constructist View of Comunication by Ernst von Glasersfeld
[31.03.08]
An
Exposition of Constructivism: Why Some Like it
Radical
by Ernst von
Glasersfeld [08.04.03]
The Incommensurability of Scientific and
Poetic Knowledge by Ernst von
Glasersfeld [01.15.98]
In Memory of a Pioneer
(Silvio Ceccato,
1914-1997) by Ernst von Glasersfeld [01.15.98]
Distinguishing the Observer: An Attempt
at Interpreting Maturana by Ernst von
Glasersfeld [12.19.97]
Homage to Jean Piaget by Ernst von Glasersfeld
[12.12.97]
The Conceptual Construction of Time
by Ernst von Glasersfeld [10.06.97]
Cybernetics and the Art of Living
by
Ernst von Glasersfeld [10.06.97]
Put
Your Questions to Ernst von Glasersfeld
VON GLASERSFELD'S ANSWERS:
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CONTACT
Professor von Glasersfeld may
be contacted at the following address:
University of Massachusetts,
SRRI, Hasbrouck Lab., AMHERST, MA 01003. USA.
FAX: 413 -545 -1691
LINKS
