TY  - JOUR
A1  - Beim Graben, Peter
T1  - Contextual emergence of intentionality
T2  - Journal of consciousness studies : controversies in science & the humanities ; an international multi-disciplinary journal
N2  - By means of an intriguing physical example, magnetic surface swimmers, that can be described in terms of Dennett's intentional stance, I reconstruct a hierarchy of necessary and sufficient conditions for the applicability of the intentional strategy. It turns out that the different levels of the intentional hierarchy are contextually emergent from their respective subjacent levels by imposing stability constraints upon them. At the lowest level of the hierarchy, phenomenal physical laws emerge for the coarse-grained description of open, nonlinear, and dissipative non-equilibrium systems in critical states. One level higher, dynamic patterns, such as, for example, magnetic surface swimmers, are contextually emergent as they are invariant under certain symmetry operations. Again one level up, these patterns behave apparently rationally by selecting optimal pathways for the dissipation of energy that is delivered by external gradients. This is in accordance with the restated Second Law of thermodynamics as a stability criterion. At the highest level, true believers are intentional systems that are stable under exchanging their observation conditions.
Y1  - 2014
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/37886
SN  - 1355-8250
VL  - 21
IS  - 5-6
SP  - 75
EP  - 96
PB  - Imprint Academic
CY  - Exeter
ER  -