Oswald Wiener's Theory of Thought

Aus der Kunst kommend und notgedrungen zum Forscher geworden, hob der vielseitig schaffende Oswald Wiener (1935?2021) in seiner Denkpsychologie hervor:

?Eine Synthese von Selbstbeobachtung und Automatentheorie strebe ich nicht an. Es geht vielmehr um eine Gegenüberstellung: Was an den in der Selbstbeobachtung aufgefaßten Zusammenhängen läßt sich auf einigermaßen befriedigende Weise als eine Realisierung von Zusammenhängen innerhalb eines formalen Systems, z. B. des formalen Systems Automatentheorie auffassen. Oder umgekehrt: Wie gut erfaßt das Modell Automatentheorie (Computer-Metapher, ,Physical Symbol System', künstliche Intelligenz auf dem heutigen Stand ...) wesentliche Züge des menschlichen Denkens? Was würde hier als eine ,einigermaßen befriedigende Weise' gelten? Wie sehr und was abstrahiert das formale System?? ?

Drei Gespräche mit Wiener über die historische Theorieentwicklung und vier Essays in diesem Buch sollen diesen neuen und bislang zu wenig im akademischen Diskurs beachteten Ansatz der Denktheorie ein- und fortführen. Angelpunkt der Überlegungen ist Wieners letzter großer Aufsatz ?Kybernetik und Gespenster?.

As a versatile and creative thinker, Oswald Wiener (1935?2021) developed from an artist into a researcher out of sheer necessity. At the end of his life he emphasized:?

?I do not aim at a synthesis of introspection and automata theory but rather at contrasting them. Which relationships identified in introspection can ? in a fairly satisfactory way ? be understood as realizations of relationships within a formal system, e.g., the formal system of automata theory. Or the other way around: How well does automata theory as a model (i.e., the computer as mental metaphor, 'Physical Symbol Systems,' today's Artificial Intelligence ...) capture essential features of human thought? What does 'in a fairly satisfactory way' mean in this context? What, and how strongly, does the formal system abstract from natural processes?? ?

In this book, three conversations with Wiener about the development of his theory and four essays introduce and elaborate on this new ap proach to the theory of thought, which has previously received too little attention in academic discourse. A pivotal role is played by Wiener's last major essay ?Cybernetics and Ghosts.?

?The collected essays in this book orbit around the mind of Oswald Wiener, becoming visible in his poignant text Cybernetics and Ghosts. The subtitle, in the no-man's-land between science and art adds an unnecessary caveat to Oswald Wiener's thoughts, because his thinking operates in a well-developed domain, just one that sadly resides in a parallel universe, one in which computer scientists are philosophers of mind, cybernetics did not die, and psychology did not end after Piaget.

• Artistic research in Wiener?s (1935?2021) ?uvre
• Oswald Wiener?s approach to cognitive psychology
• On the link between informatics and self-observation
• Also available in German Oswald Wieners Theorie des Denkens 978-3-11-065960-3

Wiener's perspective becomes very timely when it comes to the current, dismal discourse about Artificial Intelligence, which is largely taking place between philosophically illiterate engineers and scientifically illiterate humanities scholars. Where the engineers present their discoveries of practically useful algorithms and the scholars their practically useful political opinions, Wiener remains a true intellectual, sifting through the phenomenology of AI systems in an attempt to understand its significance for the unanswered questions of mind, meaning and the construction of reality.?

Joscha Bach, Cognitive Scientist / AI Strategist at Liquid AI / Research Fellow at Thistledown Foundation, San Francisco Bay Area

?Oswald Wiener was a notable figure in the arts, in science, and in philosophy. What a pleasure to see that his remarkable efforts on the cognitive sciences are being recognized in a new book authored by his close disciples. I highly recommend it.? (Antonio Damasio, Professor für Psychologie, Philosophie und Neurologie, University of Southern California)

***

?Oswald Wiener repräsentiert in seiner Person eine einzigartige Verknüpfung von literarischen und kognitionswissenschaftlichen Zugängen zu Fragen der künstlichen Intelligenz, der Kybernetik und des menschlichen Geistes. In Zeiten zunehmend erfolgreicher Simulation von Subjektivität ist sein originelles Denken aktueller denn je.? (Thomas Fuchs, Karl-Jaspers-Professor für Philosophie und Psychiatrie, Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik Heidelberg)