990119 1012 - conforming of objects and knowledge

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Von: Marco Bettoni <m.bettoni@fhbb.ch>
An: Kant List Bucknell <kant-l@bucknell.edu>
Cc: Rolf Todesco <todesco@compuserve.com>; Robert Ottiger <ottiger@swissonline.ch>
Betreff: Conforming of objects and knowledge
Datum: Dienstag, 19. Januar 1999 10:12

Dear all,

"on which ground is founded the relation between what we call 'Vorstellung'
in us and the object (?)" (Immanuel Kant, Letter to Markus Herz, February
1772).

In a previous message I claimed that to answer this Kantian question, is the
FUNDAMENTAL TASK of any cognitive science and philosophy of
science.

You probably know what Kant wrote to explain why that question is so
important.

Ten years ago Maturana explained that to answer that question is "the most
central question that humanity faces today". He begins his explanation as
follows:

"I claim that the most central question that humanity faces today is the
question of reality. And I claim that this is so, regardless of whether we
are aware of it or not, because every thing that we do as modern human
beings, either as individuals, as social entities or as memebrs of some
non-social human community, entails an explicit or implicit answer to this
question as a foundation for the rational arguments that we use to justify
our actions. Even nature as we bring it forth in the course of our lives as
human beings, depends on our explicit or implicit answer to this question.
Indeed, I claim that the explicit or implicit answer that each one of us
gives to the question of reality determines how he or she lives his or her
life, as well as his or her acceptance or rejection of other human beings in
the network of social and non-social systems that he or she integrates."
(Humberto Maturana, "Reality: The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a
Compelling Argument," The Irish Journal of Psychology, 9, 25-82, 1988,
p.25).

Marco C. Bettoni

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