Dear Gary F,
On Apr 18, 2006, at 11:56 AM, gnusystems wrote:
Prigogine pointed out that
under certain conditions, self-organizing processes can occur
spontaneously to facilitate the reduction of a gradient; thus we have
entropy production giving rise to the organic, "order out of chaos".
The
irony is that if we look at the whole system or universe in which the
organism is nested, we see order as emerging in order to produce
disorder more thoroughly, with thermodynamic equilibrium acting as
"final cause" or attractor in the state space of the universe.
Eric Schneider and Dorian Sagan recently published a book with this
idea as the thesis, _Into the Cool_. I question the appropriateness of
saying that the reduction of the gradient is the purpose of the
universe or the purpose of any organism. This seems to confuse the
means with the ends. Although Peirce can be said to be partly
responsible for this idea (insofar as he inspired Prigogine/Stengers),
I'd like to discuss the subtle differences of Peirce's view of final
cause. I'm currently organizing a conference panel on the topic, to be
held in NYC in Nov 2006. Both Schneider and Sagan will be featured.
There will also be a Peirce-biosemiotics session. Comments/suggestions
are welcome.
Victoria
Victoria N. Alexander, Ph.D.
Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities
64 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
212 219 2344
www.dactyl.org
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