Making an environment 81
In either case, relatively constant temperatures are part of the background conditions for the respective organism. These are conditions on which the organism
relies, and which will have a direct or indirect bearing on the fulfilment of the
organism’s goals, but which may not be directly perceived by, or even be directly
perceivable to, the organism. Continuing with the present example, temperature
constancy will not be part of the background conditions for a hardy plant that
evolved in a more variable climate and is hence adapted to endure, and react
to, major temperature swings. Nor will constant temperatures at some location
belong to the background conditions for an animal that follows a regular pattern
of variation in temperature and daylight over the course of the seasons across
geographical regions. Such will be the case for a migratory bird, who visits a
sequence of locations precisely in order to avail himself of suitable temperatures
and a suitable supply of food. The conditions on which the bird depends have to
be relatively constant, although locations will change according to whether they
provide conditions that remain within the required range over some time. The
bird is in the business of actively seeking out the conditions he requires. These are
variant strategies of coping with patterns of variation in environmental conditions.
Adapting ecological niches
Both on the perceptual and the behavioural side, there is a dynamic aspect to environments, even if some environment is marked by a high degree of constancy or
by stable recurring patterns for some relevant variables. Let us recall that one of
Gibson’s primary concerns is that perception is an activity in which the perceiving organism interacts with an object of interest over time, and that this activity
is based on tracking its invariant aspects. In a similar vein, tracking the domain
of a signal, as suggested by Ruth Millikan, means to keep up with the behaviours
and transformations of conditions at the source that are mapped by a multitude of
signals within that domain.
On the perceptual side, information related to some source is not collected in
one-off encounters with static states of affairs. Typically, an organism will not
come up against things that do not move, cannot be moved and look the same
from every angle, from any distance and under all lighting conditions. Such static
conditions for perception do not even apply to situations of looking at a picture –
unless the viewing conditions are artificially restricted, as in what Gibson calls
“aperture vision”. Instead, a broad variety of signals related to a distal affair is collected over time, from different relative positions and under conditions where that
affair is likely to change in various respects, in various ways. So much I consider
to have established in the preceding chapters.
On the behavioural side, there is a case to be made for organisms not merely
adapting to pre-existent conditions in their environments but interacting with, and
thereby actively altering, states of affairs in those environments, some of which
will be specifically relevant to them. An active adapting of, rather than merely
to, conditions in the environment may occur on developmental, ecological and
evolutionary time scales, with the possibility of overlaps being granted. Hence, it
In either case, relatively constant temperatures are part of the background conditions for the respective organism. These are conditions on which the organism
relies, and which will have a direct or indirect bearing on the fulfilment of the
organism’s goals, but which may not be directly perceived by, or even be directly
perceivable to, the organism. Continuing with the present example, temperature
constancy will not be part of the background conditions for a hardy plant that
evolved in a more variable climate and is hence adapted to endure, and react
to, major temperature swings. Nor will constant temperatures at some location
belong to the background conditions for an animal that follows a regular pattern
of variation in temperature and daylight over the course of the seasons across
geographical regions. Such will be the case for a migratory bird, who visits a
sequence of locations precisely in order to avail himself of suitable temperatures
and a suitable supply of food. The conditions on which the bird depends have to
be relatively constant, although locations will change according to whether they
provide conditions that remain within the required range over some time. The
bird is in the business of actively seeking out the conditions he requires. These are
variant strategies of coping with patterns of variation in environmental conditions.
Adapting ecological niches
Both on the perceptual and the behavioural side, there is a dynamic aspect to environments, even if some environment is marked by a high degree of constancy or
by stable recurring patterns for some relevant variables. Let us recall that one of
Gibson’s primary concerns is that perception is an activity in which the perceiving organism interacts with an object of interest over time, and that this activity
is based on tracking its invariant aspects. In a similar vein, tracking the domain
of a signal, as suggested by Ruth Millikan, means to keep up with the behaviours
and transformations of conditions at the source that are mapped by a multitude of
signals within that domain.
On the perceptual side, information related to some source is not collected in
one-off encounters with static states of affairs. Typically, an organism will not
come up against things that do not move, cannot be moved and look the same
from every angle, from any distance and under all lighting conditions. Such static
conditions for perception do not even apply to situations of looking at a picture –
unless the viewing conditions are artificially restricted, as in what Gibson calls
“aperture vision”. Instead, a broad variety of signals related to a distal affair is collected over time, from different relative positions and under conditions where that
affair is likely to change in various respects, in various ways. So much I consider
to have established in the preceding chapters.
On the behavioural side, there is a case to be made for organisms not merely
adapting to pre-existent conditions in their environments but interacting with, and
thereby actively altering, states of affairs in those environments, some of which
will be specifically relevant to them. An active adapting of, rather than merely
to, conditions in the environment may occur on developmental, ecological and
evolutionary time scales, with the possibility of overlaps being granted. Hence, it