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a
)
“environment” [S]
b
)
“internal representation of environment” (w[r
x
])
c
)
“description of environment” (dG
+
,dG
-
).
4 The logical structure of descriptions arises from the logical structure of
movements; “approach” and “withdrawal” are the precursors for “yes” and
“no.”
4.1 The two phases of elementary behavior, “approach” and “with-
drawal,” establish the operational origin of the two fundamental axioms
of
two-valued logic, namely, the “law of the excluded contradiction”
:
X
&
(not:
X and
not-
X
); and the “law of the excluded middle”:
X
⁄
X
X
(
X or
not-
X
); (Fig. 8).
4.2 We have from Wittgenstein's
Tractatus
,
4
proposition 4.0621:
. . . it is important that the signs “
p
” and “non-
p
”
can
say the same thing. For it shows
that nothing in reality corresponds to the sign “non.”
The occurrence of negation in a proposition is not enough to characterize its sense
(non-non-
p
=
p
).
4.21 Since nothing in the environment corresponds to negation, nega-
tion as well as all other “logical particles” (inclusion, alternation, implica-
tion, etc.) must arise within the organism as a consequence of perceiving
the relation of itself with respect to its environment.
4.3 Beyond being logical affirmative or negative, descriptions can be true
or false.
4.31 We have from Susan Langer,
Philosophy in a New Key
5
:
The use of signs is the very first manifestation of mind. It arises as early in biolog-
ical history as the famous “conditioned reflex,” by which a concomitant of a stim-
ulus takes over the stimulus-function. The concomitant becomes a
sign
of the
condition to which the reaction is really appropriate. This is the real beginning of
mentality, for here is the birthplace of
error
, and herewith of
truth
.
4.32 Thus, not only the logical structure of descriptions but also their
truth values are coupled to movement.
4.4 Movement, dG, is internally represented through operations on
peripheral signals generated by:
a
)
proprioceptors,
p
z
:
GÆ Æ
(
,
d
pwp
z
z
b
)
sensors,
r
x
:
Æ
(
;
d
GÆ
drwr
x
z
and movement is initiated by operations on the activity
v
z
of central
elements
n
z
,
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