1) I don't accept the comparison between a biological system which must store 
common knowledge and a colony of people which must store common knowledge. You 
are leaving out the site(s) for this storage! To say merely that it is 
'distributed' ignores that such knowledge must still be distributed somewhere. 

So, how does the embryonic individual brain, made up of those 'people' (colony 
of neurons) obtain its store of information???? 

In the social milieu, the city/colony - knowledge is stored in the communal 
language (Signs) as bound within the ideology, myths, tales, stories of that 
population.  These stories (Signs) are passed down through the generations. But 
where are these Signs/ stories, myths, tales - in the individual human 
brain-as-a-colony?  Are there competing stories in the neuron-colony, as there 
are in the human-colony?

2) Ah- now I get it. You are asking how does the brain function as mind, 
converting physical stimuli to images/concepts/thoughts. The answer is - we 
don't totally know. Yet.  But we know a lot. You seem to deny this.

We are aware of neurons and that they develop dendrites/networks; . We know the 
results of damage to the neuronic and dendrite/synaptic capacity - such as 
within concussions, strokes, epilepsy, etc; we know key areas of the brain that 
function to operate certain attributes (language, memory, etc). But we do 
acknowledge that the brain DOES function as mind - and acknowledge that the 
physical stimuli (Object) converts to an image, a semiosic Interpretant.  This 
transformation would require mediation, i.e., the Representamen. Now - how much 
is innate and how much of the mediative process also must be learned and 
stored? Researchers are still arguing over this. 

I don't see anything wrong with the computer or semiosic model of the brain. I 
certainly don't accept your colony-of-neurons.  And I don't see how you've come 
up with the answer of obtaining and storing knowledge!

Edwina




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephen Jarosek 
  To: 'Edwina Taborsky' ; 'Ozzie' 
  Cc: 'Stephen C. Rose' ; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu ; biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee 
  Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 10:36 AM
  Subject: RE: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion


  There are two conflicting metaphors concerning the questions you raise. You 
seem to have a preference for the info-tech (computer) metaphor. The second 
metaphor, that of my preference, is that of the brain as a colony of neurons 
being analogous to a city as a colony of people. Where is the “memory” of the 
city stored? It’s stored in the habits and activities of all the people that 
comprise it. In this way, the city retains its memory of historical events, 
technology, etc, for example. There is no single place in the city that serves 
as a repository for memory, the city’s memory is distributed throughout the 
city. Just as it is in the brian.

  As for what you might be missing with respect to the computer. My question is 
straightforward... please point to the computer. What is it that is processing 
the genetic info/data, to convert sensory inputs, say, into thoughts? Where’s 
the computers CPU? What technology is it all drawing on?

  sj

   

  From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca] 
  Sent: Monday, 20 July 2015 4:18 PM
  To: Stephen Jarosek; 'Ozzie'
  Cc: 'Stephen C. Rose'; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu; biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee
  Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

   

  Stephen, yes, we are reducing our basis for dialogue to almost nothing!

   

  1) We do not know exactly how the genome works; we are aware of 'junk DNA' 
(introns) and have been for some time; I've referenced intron research at least 
a decade ago. The point is, we acknowledge that the species must have some 
method of storing knowledge (of form and behaviour) to reproduce the species as 
a continuity of type - and it's in the genome. You still haven't explained 
where YOU consider this knowledge base is stored.

   

  And I'm still unsure of your point about the computer. I'm missing something!

   

  2) And as you are aware, your 'mind/body/umwelt' isn't an answer to my 
question of who/what defines 'what matters' to an organism and a species.

   

  Edwina

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Stephen Jarosek 

    To: 'Edwina Taborsky' ; 'Ozzie' 

    Cc: 'Stephen C. Rose' ; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu ; biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee 

    Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 10:06 AM

    Subject: RE: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

     

    Edwina, on most of the points you raise, I can see where we are going to be 
going around in circles. So I’ll just respond to those couple of points where 
we might stand a better chance of coming to some kind of closure:

    EDWINA: “I was under the impression that research is quite knowledgeable 
about how DNA works“

    SJ: How could you say that? They are constantly revising what they 
previously assumed. For example, the latest, I believe, is that “junk” DNA is 
supposed to be important in some new way that they had never anticipated. And 
then there is the problem that I raised in my previous post, regarding the 
missing computer. That is, if people are going to go along with the info-tech 
narrative that describes genes and DNA in the context of information, then I’d 
like to see the computer that processes said information. Where is it? If 
people are going to run with a particular metaphor, like the 
computing/info-tech narrative, then they really should cover all aspects of it.

    EDWINA: “Sorry - but this statement, to me, is circular. Who defines 'what 
matters' and what does 'what matters' functionally mean?”

    SJ: The “who” that defines what matters is the mind-body that must make 
choices from its Umwelt. [hmmm... i can see that this is not going to get us 
anywhere J] Mind-bodies define their own priorities, they need neither human 
nor godly intervention to define what matters to them.

    sj

     

     

    From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca] 
    Sent: Monday, 20 July 2015 3:35 PM
    To: Stephen Jarosek; 'Ozzie'
    Cc: 'Stephen C. Rose'; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu; biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee
    Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

     

    Stephen- I continue with problems with your analysis.

     

    1) SJ: However, the idea of instincts being purposeful/efficient is 
problematic because it implies the sort of bottom-up complexity that requires a 
creator. It is inconsistent with thermodynamic principles and the entropy that 
must invariably render persistent complexity impossible.

     

    Edwina: I don't see how knowledge, which is the formation of habits of both 
form and behaviour - a practice long supported by Peirce in his analysis of the 
three categories - is inconsistent with thermodynamic principles and 
complexity. After all, the very notion of habit formation is to prevent 
entropic dissipation of matter by establishing stable and continuous forms of 
that matter - again, continuity is a vital Peircean principle. Complexity 
theory both supports this notion of habit formation, continuity of type AND the 
notion of continuous diversity of type - all to prevent entropic dissipation of 
matter.

     

    2) SJ: We don’t know how DNA works. My own hunch is in favour of DNA 
entanglement, and that changes everything... all bets are off, all prior 
assumptions null and void. Furthermore, establishing instincts as a category of 
knowing that is fundamentally different to Peirce’s triadic scheme is 
inconsistent with axiomatic thinking.

     

    Edwina: I was under the impression that research is quite knowledgeable 
about how DNA works - and the argument is over how evolution and adaptation 
function - which is a form of entanglement. And I don't see how you can claim 
that instincts are a 'category of knowledge' that is different from Peirce's 
triadic categories. Instincts, as a form of stored knowledge, are a form of 
Thirdness. 

     

    3) SJ: Biological predispositions predispose us to defining what matters.

     

    Edwina: Sorry - but this statement, to me, is circular. Who defines 'what 
matters' and what does 'what matters' functionally mean?

    And what is a 'biological predisposition' other than an instinct?

    As for birds learning to fly - they have both the morphological 
technological FORM and the instinctive knowledge to act on this biological 
technology which results in flight. They do not have to learn to operate this 
technology, as we have to learn to drive a car or fly a plane. They have to 
practice using this technology but they certainly do not learn it by social 
techniques. 

     

    4) Entropy is a basic causal component of complexity and CAS (complex 
adaptive systems). They are driving forces in the  biological realm, where 
complex diversity of type evolves to prevent the final dissipation of matter. 

     

    As for mechanical rather than simply biological complexity, such as that 
watch or computer, those are technological attributes of the human species, 
which is, I maintain, a biological species that lacks the confinement of 
genetically stored knowledge. The human species has to develop and store its 
knowledge within its social means (language). 

     

    This means that it can, as a species, become more technologically complex 
as its population base increases.  These technological attributes (eg,  
farming, the plough, irrigation, energy sources) enable the human species to 
support a larger population, maintain the health of that population (disease 
control,  hygiene, nutrition)...and so on.

     

    But - instincts of our species, such as the capacity for language, the 
curiosity of the brain, the imaginative faculty - are the grounds for such 
technological activities.

     

    Edwina

     

     

      ----- Original Message ----- 

      From: Stephen Jarosek 

      To: 'Ozzie' 

      Cc: 'Edwina Taborsky' ; 'Stephen C. Rose' ; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu ; 
biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee 

      Sent: Monday, July 20, 2015 9:05 AM

      Subject: RE: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

       

      TOM: “I believe Peirce argued that "pragmatism" is incorporated into 
genes during evolution.  If so, then instincts are purposeful/efficient without 
intervention by others or instruction on "how to be."”

      SJ: I am not a Peirce scholar... my respect for his work was established 
back-the-front, after I formulated my own categories and realized that, thanks 
to him, it had all been done before. So I cannot comment on how he factored 
pragmatism into genetic theory. However, the idea of instincts being 
purposeful/efficient is problematic because it implies the sort of bottom-up 
complexity that requires a creator. It is inconsistent with thermodynamic 
principles and the entropy that must invariably render persistent complexity 
impossible.

      TOM: “Falsifiable?  You have already agreed to the DNA part ("... a body 
built to do these things"), so the next step is to test whether anything 
ADDITIONAL is required for instinctual behavior to be exhibited.”

      SJ: We don’t know how DNA works. My own hunch is in favour of DNA 
entanglement, and that changes everything... all bets are off, all prior 
assumptions null and void. Furthermore, establishing instincts as a category of 
knowing that is fundamentally different to Peirce’s triadic scheme is 
inconsistent with axiomatic thinking. Either an axiomatic framework applies or 
it doesn’t. The creation of exceptions to the rule should raise alarm bells... 
Occam’s razor applies.

      TOM: “If a bird's egg is taken out of the nest and the bird is raised by 
humans without special attention beyond feeding, it does not receive the care, 
training and social contact that other birds receive.  Then when the bird is 
sufficiently mature, if you drop it from a height of (say) 20 feet, it will 
fly.”

      SJ: Huh? Not sure about that: 

      
http://blogs.bu.edu/bioaerial2012/2012/10/09/nature-vs-nurture-how-do-baby-birds-learn-how-to-fly/

      In the event that exceptions to this rule exist... biological 
predispositions predisposing critters with wings to fly.

      TOM: “Some plants make tiny movements throughout the day to "follow" the 
sun across the sky.  This occurs regardless of a contact with other plants.  
Next, switch the light source to a stationary bulb, and the same plant will 
stop moving throughout the day.  This occurs regardless of contact with other 
plants.  The effect is the same for all plants of the same species.”

      SJ: Biological predispositions predispose us to defining what matters.

      TOM: “I interpret such behaviors as evidence that instincts are DNA 
based, then triggered by a stimulus from the environment.  These effects are 
independent of socialization or contact with others of the species, including a 
parent.”

      SJ: There are all sorts of problems with the genocentric paradigm, and it 
is difficult to enumerate them all. Complexity versus entropy... the idea of, 
say, a watch or a computer materializing all by itself in nature, even within 
an infinite universe, has to contend against enormous odds that render its 
unlikelihood an impossibility. By contrast, “knowing how to be” is robust  
because it motivates every agent in a collective to observe its partner agents 
and how they behave. The penalty for misbehaving often impacts adversely on 
survival, and so most member agents learn very quickly to imitate the norms or 
be damned. Fear of the unknown is a very powerful motivator capable of 
resisting the entropic forces of disunity.

      sj

       

      From: Ozzie [mailto:ozzie...@gmail.com] 
      Sent: Monday, 20 July 2015 1:22 PM
      To: Stephen Jarosek
      Cc: Edwina Taborsky; Stephen C. Rose; <peirce-l@list.iupui.edu>; 
<biosemiot...@lists.ut.ee>
      Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

       

      Stephen - 

      I believe Peirce argued that "pragmatism" is incorporated into genes 
during evolution.  If so, then instincts are purposeful/efficient without 
intervention by others or instruction on "how to be." 

       

      STEPHEN:  "The idea of instinct as somehow hardwired into the DNA is a 
red herring that is not falsifiable."

       

      Falsifiable?  You have already agreed to the DNA part ("... a body built 
to do these things"), so the next step is to test whether anything ADDITIONAL 
is required for instinctual behavior to be exhibited. 


      If a bird's egg is taken out of the nest and the bird is raised by humans 
without special attention beyond feeding, it does not receive the care, 
training and social contact that other birds receive.  Then when the bird is 
sufficiently mature, if you drop it from a height of (say) 20 feet, it will 
fly.  

       

      Some plants make tiny movements throughout the day to "follow" the sun 
across the sky.  This occurs regardless of a contact with other plants.  Next, 
switch the light source to a stationary bulb, and the same plant will stop 
moving throughout the day.  This occurs regardless of contact with other 
plants.  The effect is the same for all plants of the same species. 

       

      I interpret such behaviors as evidence that instincts are DNA based, then 
triggered by a stimulus from the environment.  These effects are independent of 
socialization or contact with others of the species, including a parent.  

       

      Regards, 

      Tom Wyrick 

       

       


      On Jul 20, 2015, at 4:33 AM, Stephen Jarosek <sjaro...@iinet.net.au> 
wrote:

        List,

        Many of us seem to be persisting with the narrative that instincts are 
programmed into the DNA. Edwina, you make reference to a socializing instinct. 
Might it be that this socializing instinct is not an instinct at all, but a 
manifestation of knowing how to be (relates to pragmatism)? Allow me to 
explain. At least as far as higher level organisms are concerned, a newborn 
entering the world is entering a scary unknown. Mothers of all kinds across all 
species pick up on this vulnerability (it never ceases to amaze me the 
affection that mothers of all kinds lavish upon their offspring). The newborn’s 
mother provides a known familiarity with which the youngster assimilates and 
becomes comfortable with. Under the mother’s nurturance and care, the scary 
unknown into which it first enters quickly becomes the familiar known that 
informs how it should be... and that’s why, if you want such a critter as a 
pet, it has to interact with humans from an early age in order to become 
domesticated.

        Consider the phenomenon of feral children, like the famous “wild boy of 
Aveyron.” An abandoned infant that is taken into the care of a matriarchal wolf 
has to contend with a scary, alien world that its adoptive mother makes 
comfortable and familiar. This ensures its survival, but the things that come 
to matter to it, as a wolf-child, are going to make it impossible for it to 
assimilate to a human society, should it ever venture there again.

        Thus my thesis is that “instincts” (for want of a better word) 
subscribe fully to the principles of pragmatism and the three categories, but 
that they occur at deeper levels. For example, in the narrative of chaos 
theory, associations made before birth and shortly after birth provide the 
“initial conditions” onto which all subsequent associations (experiences) 
accrue. Also, the organism’s physiology provides the predispositions for making 
choices... a critter with hands is predisposed to grasping things, a critter 
with a tongue and vocal chords is predisposed to vocalizing things. Neither the 
impulse to grasp nor the impulse to vocalize is an instinct. The impulse to 
grasp and the impulse to vocalize are just what you do when you have a body 
built to do these things, and you have a bucket of plastic neurons in your 
skull that organise themselves to accommodate the choices you make. The idea of 
instinct as somehow hardwired into the DNA is a red herring that is not 
falsifiable... to be blunt, it’s nonsense and the genocentrists peddling this 
nonsense need to lift their game. ALL thought, whether impulsive or directed, 
must necessarily subscribe to exactly the same Peircean categories and in 
accordance with the principles of pragmatism. Heck, even the mother’s 
“instinct” to nurture subscribes to the same Peircean principles... it’s not an 
instinct, maybe it’s just what it seems to be... an awareness that her little 
one is vulnerable and helpless. Perhaps it tugs at something in her own memory, 
back when she was a newborn first entering a scary unknown.

        The bottom line... a socializing “instinct” is just a manifestation of 
the need to know how to be. Infinity is scary, and socialization provides us 
with the fixations of belief to which we can anchor our identities... this 
applies to all organisms, not just humans. There is no such thing as an 
“instinct” hardwired into the genetic code... such a belief allows us to be led 
down a merry garden path that doesn’t take us anywhere. Of course if anyone 
does believe that instincts are coded into the DNA, I’m open to revising my 
stance if they can provide hard, falsifiable evidence to support their claim. 
The existing “instinct” narrative is not properly accounted for, and defaulting 
to it as a given closes our minds to considering other possibilities (like DNA 
entanglement). 

        Copying to biosemiotics... this unfalsifiable instinct fiction is a 
serious problem that needs to get ironed out.

        sj

        PS. I continue to be somewhat confused about the different contexts in 
which the word pragmatism is applied. I use it in the context of an organism 
“defining the things that matter.” But Peirce and his pragmatic maxim seem to 
relate to methodology in experimentation and research. Is there an agreed-upon 
terminology that eliminates this ambiguity?

         

        From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca] 
        Sent: Monday, 20 July 2015 2:56 AM
        To: Thomas; Stephen C. Rose
        Cc: peirce-l@list.iupui.edu
        Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

         

        Tom - see my replies below:

          ----- Original Message ----- 

          From: Thomas 

          To: Stephen C. Rose 

          Cc: Edwina Taborsky ; <peirce-l@list.iupui.edu> 

          Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2015 8:02 PM

          Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

           

          Stephen, Edwina, List ~ 

           

          I agree that instinct leads to physical activity (though sometimes 
inside the body where it can't be seen).  But it is triggered by environmental 
changes.  That is the standard definition of instinct.  It is not so much an 
"inclination" as "who you are" in a certain environment.  But you may never 
encounter that environment, so you would never know.  

           

          I do believe we have a socializing instinct, because we were part of 
someone else before birth and closely tended to for several years after birth, 
often in the presence of siblings.  We therefore perceive living with others as 
the norm.  

           

          EDWINA: We have a socializing instinct, not simply because we were 
part of someone else before birth - and that IS valid, but because our 
knowledge base is almost entirely learned. Therefore, as a species, we MUST be 
social or we are unable to live. That is, without language, without learning 
how-to-get-food; how to build shelter etc...we would not survive as a species. 

           

          So this instance raises the possibility that instincts are gene-based 
*except in one case:  where the mother (i.e., a loving, attentive mother) is 
involved.  Then, genes and baby/infant emotions both originate from the same 
source -- so their effects (in the child) are blended and confound analysis.  
In that case I don't have a firm opinion.  My *guess: we have socialization 
instincts (genes) AND socialization habits learned during infancy AND emotional 
feelings related to other people (community) shaped by the infant experience 
(with mother+father).  

           

          EDWINA: The socialization instinct is genetic; the socialization 
habits are learned - because our species alone of all species, has the capacity 
to change its technological attributes by which it interacts with the 
environment.

          Emotion is a basic requirement for developing and using socialized 
habits/knowledge.

           

          Officially, though, instincts are hard-wired into us (DNA), and do 
not have a community trigger -- unless the community alters the environment.  
Individuals isolated from their communities have the same instincts:  drop a 
young bird from a tree that never met another bird, and it will flap its wings 
and fly.  

           

          Regards,

          Tom Wyrick 

           


          On Jul 19, 2015, at 3:19 PM, Stephen C. Rose <stever...@gmail.com> 
wrote:

          I wonder what controls instincts which I see as somewhat like 
inclinations which suggest movement and power. I am inclined to think it is the 
interplay within a community though not always in ways that can be understood. 
I wonder of Peirce with his seemingly default inclining toward the community as 
a sort of teleological destiny and his sense of the porousness of the 
individual ultimately felt that instincts have something like consciousness? 




          Books http://buff.ly/15GfdqU Art: http://buff.ly/1wXAxbl 

          Gifts: http://buff.ly/1wXADj3

           

          On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 4:05 PM, Ozzie <ozzie...@gmail.com> wrote:

          Edwina ~ 

          My notes on habit and evolution are more wide-ranging (random?) than 
your comments/questions.  These are my interpretation of the science, but of 
course I can be wrong. 


          1- Is instinct a property only of the more complex realms?  That 
depends on how one interprets "instinct."  If we define instinct as behavioral 
feature shared by all members of a "species," then protons and electrons DO 
have an instinct to spend time with each other, when the opportunity presents 
itself.  The +/- attraction characterizes all protons and electrons, and they 
always exhibit the expected behavior in a neutral environment.  I consider that 
an instinct.  Other subatomic particles don't (necessarily) possess it.  Some 
may label this a "characteristic" of protons and electron, instead of an 
instinct, which is fine with me -- if it is understood this characteristic 
describes behavior, not physical attributes.

           

          2- Those protons and electrons can change into altered versions of 
their original states if placed in a different environment.  However, I don't 
consider that evolution.  It is a reaction to the environment. The +/- 
characteristics of atomic particles don't change physically or alter their 
behavior without something happening in the neighborhood/environment where they 
reside.  Chemists change their environment, but so do other things (e.g., heat 
in stars, electromagnetic radiation from the earth's core, nearby atoms).  If 
evolution occurred, then we could not reverse the process and break materials 
down into the original atoms. 

           

          3- Evolution modifies living things (over time) to add physical 
features to them that incorporate regular/everyday life activities into the 
physical body of species members.  Then, behavior originally attributed to 
volition become instinctual.  Theoretically, nature "decides" that a one-time 
investment of resources (so to speak) reduces physical and cognitive effort 
that would otherwise be required throughout the lifetimes of the species 
members.  Following evolution, the individual can devote effort and cognitive 
attention to more pressing matters that occur less frequently but have greater 
survival value, such as an attack by predators.  

           

          All of this is captured by your statement that evolution "is a basic 
form of knowledge."  I agree.  I see it as nature's knowledge embodied into a 
living thing. 

           

          4- When evolution provides "instincts" that are efficient substitutes 
for cognitive activity, an external observer may perceive cognition when none 
actually occurs.  (Observers may not be able to see something, and abduct some 
phenomenon that doesn't exist.)

           

          5- Creatures do not simply evolve the "ability to think" or "ability 
to move" in some generic way, but evolved the ability to process information 
and move in a manner that supports efficient outcomes.  Thus human brains are 
created as logical organs, with abduction/induction/deduction shaping (being 
reflected in) the physical structure of the mechanism just as our digestive 
tracts are structured efficiently to perform that function.  Brain cells 
(neurons) are in the stomach to detect toxins and trigger a rapid response. 

           

          6- Living things do, as you say, have a clear advantage over abiotic 
bodies when it comes to evolution.  However, abiotic bodies comprise the things 
that evolve, so they are along for the evolutionary journey.  A light photon 
traveling from the sun is abiotic, but a plant captures and processes it to 
produce sugar and oxygen. Then animals eat the sugar and breathe the oxygen.  
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Biological life is comprised of abiotic 
material, and that's what it eventually becomes when life ends.  

           

          7- For an atom (anything) to "evolve" in nature, it appears a 
mechanism would have to exist involving birth, death, reproduction, the concept 
of more fit vs. less fit, etc.  I am not aware of anyone describing such a 
mechanism for atomic particles.  It is possible that some atoms can be 
described as "evolving" into metals or certain compounds independent of 
environmental conditions, but I am unaware of any such mechanism.  

           

          8- I watched a video last night from the iTunes Store about Darwin 
which illustrated the example provided in your final sentences.  The same bird 
evolved different beaks on each of the Galápagos Islands, corresponding to the 
food found on each.  A series of birds collected by Darwin were laid next to 
each other; on one end was a tiny beak, while on the other the beak was very 
large.  The birds evolved, not the beaks, via the "survival of the fittest" 
mechanism.  (This is #7.)  Other genetic changes occurred in the birds while 
their beaks were evolving, so they became distinct species and lost the ability 
to reproduce with each other. 

           

          Regards,

          Tom Wyrick

           

           


          On Jul 19, 2015, at 8:44 AM, Edwina Taborsky <tabor...@primus.ca> 
wrote:

            Tom - I like your outline of the nature of instinct, as a property 
triggered by an external stimuli. 

             

            This further suggests that instinct is a property found not merely 
in the individual unit - i.e., an entity with distinct boundaries (which could 
be a chemical molecule or a bacterium) but further, only in an entity that has 
the capacity, as that individual, to act and react (which could take place both 
within the bacterium and the molecule). So do both the biotic and abiotic realm 
function within instinct? Or is instinct a property only of the more complex 
realms?

             

            That is, instinct is seemingly removed, as a form of knowledge, 
from the normative habits or rules-of-formation of abiotic matter. Certainly, a 
chemical molecule can, in interaction with another molecule, transform itself 
into a more complex molecule. But are the habits, the chemical 
rules-of-formation on the same operational level as instinct? Can these habits 
continuously adapt and evolve in the abiotic realm? That is, is instinct a 
specific form of innate knowledge that gives the biotic realm an existential 
advantage? 

             

            I'd suggest that it is a basic form of knowledge that activates the 
organism to adapt and evolve in the face of environmental stimuli. If the 
environment changes such that a property is missing in the environment (water, 
food, security, other members of the species) - then, instinct will activate 
the individual to move to a site where such properties do exist. 

             

            One could also suggest that if the environment changes such that 
food seeds have tougher shells, instinct, stimulated by the deprivation of 
food,  would activate the current individuals in that area to develop a tougher 
beak.

             

            Edwina

             

             

              ----- Original Message ----- 

              From: Ozzie 

              To: Benjamin Udell 

              Cc: peirce-l@list.iupui.edu 

              Sent: Friday, July 17, 2015 11:53 AM

              Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Instinct and emotion

               

              Ben, list - 

              Thanks for your interesting comments.  I will spend more time 
thinking about them later today. 

               

              Let me briefly address one sentence from your comments:  "I'd say 
that instincts can also be triggered _inside_ the body, e.g., by prolonged 
emptiness of the stomach."

               

              According to the common definition (interpretant) instincts are 
triggered by things in the external world.   Before birth, food is ALWAYS 
available to the baby.  After birth, and assuming an attentive mother 
(caregiver), food continues to be available without any effort or reciprocation 
on the baby's behalf.  This goes on daily for many years, so not feeling hunger 
pains becomes the norm, the expectation.  

               

              Against that backdrop, when food is withheld (by the external 
environment), one's sensation of hunger (-) is a disturbance to the status quo 
(0), which summons the instinct to do something (+) to make that "pain" go 
away.  When something from the environment is eaten (+), the sensation (-) 
disappears (0).  

               

              It is in this sense hunger pains and their elimination are 
related to (triggered by) the individual's contact with the external world.  If 
the individual eats a full meal AND THEN feels hungry, I agree that particular 
sensation has an *internal trigger (likely emotions or a physical disability). 

               

              Regards, 

              Tom Wyrick

               

               


              On Jul 17, 2015, at 8:04 AM, Benjamin Udell <bud...@nyc.rr.com> 
wrote:

                Regarding some of your comments, I'd say that instincts can 
also be triggered _inside_ the body, e.g., by prolonged emptiness of the 
stomach.


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