70
5 The Mind-Made Firmament
to it—those strands of reality which are useful in helping individuals get along
in their habitat. In the world of the housefly, recognizing a spider’s web is
of great importance, but in the world of the frog (for example) it has no
significance and is not likely to be individuated.
What is it that determines which items a particular species individuates
and accepts as real? Clearly they are those objects that have a practical effect
on the lives of animals. They are those things that bring useful information, or
ones that individuals are required to act upon. The various things that make
up a species’ ontology are those that it interacts with on a regular basis and that
give shape to its umwelt. This has been the opinion of philosophers for at least
a couple of centuries, and was expressed by William James in the following
words:
We inevitably ignore most of what we are confronted with at every instant, which
is indefinitely complex, and single out for attention those elements that are made
salient to us in view of our practical and individual interests. Those elements are
then elevated to the status of things.
James is saying that in order for something to be an object in our ontology,
there must be a reason why it was singled out from what he calls “the primordial
chaos of sensation.”The object must be of use to us and have a practical purpose.
There are infinitely many potential ways that the surrounding “chaos” may be
divided up, and the one that a species selects is dictated by practical necessity.
It needs to be emphasized that a scheme of segmentation is a product of
biological evolution, and is formed by natural selection. In no manner is there
any conscious choice or decision. A creature’s segmentation of reality is the
end-product of an extensive process of evolutionary development, and is wired
into its brain. It is what makes the world comprehensible to an animal and is
the foundation for its behavior.
The statement that we are pre-wired for our ontology does not mean that
we are born knowing all the items which will affect our later lives. The naturenurture debate was brought to a delicate conclusion by the discovery that—
although all animals do learn—they are born with specific abilities and predispositions to learn particular things. This preparation is crucial in order to
drive learning in the right direction and to ensure that only useful things are
learned.
Recently it has been verified that human babies are born with a great deal
of tacit knowledge of how the world works. For example, every child is born
with an “intuitive physics” which predicts the way rigid objects behave. Babies,
of course, don’t know what they know, for their knowledge is implicit. (Much
of our adult knowledge is, too). The knowledge of babies is revealed by an
5 The Mind-Made Firmament
to it—those strands of reality which are useful in helping individuals get along
in their habitat. In the world of the housefly, recognizing a spider’s web is
of great importance, but in the world of the frog (for example) it has no
significance and is not likely to be individuated.
What is it that determines which items a particular species individuates
and accepts as real? Clearly they are those objects that have a practical effect
on the lives of animals. They are those things that bring useful information, or
ones that individuals are required to act upon. The various things that make
up a species’ ontology are those that it interacts with on a regular basis and that
give shape to its umwelt. This has been the opinion of philosophers for at least
a couple of centuries, and was expressed by William James in the following
words:
We inevitably ignore most of what we are confronted with at every instant, which
is indefinitely complex, and single out for attention those elements that are made
salient to us in view of our practical and individual interests. Those elements are
then elevated to the status of things.
James is saying that in order for something to be an object in our ontology,
there must be a reason why it was singled out from what he calls “the primordial
chaos of sensation.”The object must be of use to us and have a practical purpose.
There are infinitely many potential ways that the surrounding “chaos” may be
divided up, and the one that a species selects is dictated by practical necessity.
It needs to be emphasized that a scheme of segmentation is a product of
biological evolution, and is formed by natural selection. In no manner is there
any conscious choice or decision. A creature’s segmentation of reality is the
end-product of an extensive process of evolutionary development, and is wired
into its brain. It is what makes the world comprehensible to an animal and is
the foundation for its behavior.
The statement that we are pre-wired for our ontology does not mean that
we are born knowing all the items which will affect our later lives. The naturenurture debate was brought to a delicate conclusion by the discovery that—
although all animals do learn—they are born with specific abilities and predispositions to learn particular things. This preparation is crucial in order to
drive learning in the right direction and to ensure that only useful things are
learned.
Recently it has been verified that human babies are born with a great deal
of tacit knowledge of how the world works. For example, every child is born
with an “intuitive physics” which predicts the way rigid objects behave. Babies,
of course, don’t know what they know, for their knowledge is implicit. (Much
of our adult knowledge is, too). The knowledge of babies is revealed by an