Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan.
Cogn Process. 2021 May;22(2):353-362. doi: 10.1007/s10339-020-01009-y. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
How can we rethink 'rationality' in the wake of animal and artificial intelligence studies? Can nonhuman systems be rational in any nontrivial sense? In this paper, we propose that all organisms, under certain circumstances, exhibit rationality to a diverse degree and aspect in the sense of the standard picture (SP): Their inferential processes conform to logic and probability rules. We first show that according to Calvo and Friston (J R Soc Interface 14(131):20170096, 2017) and Orlandi (2018), all biological systems must embody a top-down process (active inference) to minimize free energy. Next, based on Maddy's (Second philosophy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007; The logical must: Wittgenstein on logic, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014) analysis, we argue that this inferential process conforms to logic and probability rules; thus, it satisfies the SP, which explains the rudimentary logic and arithmetic (e.g., categorizing and numbering) found among pigeons and mice. We also hold that the mammalian brain is only one among many ways of implementing rationality. Finally, we discuss data from microorganisms to support this view.
在动物和人工智能研究之后，我们如何重新思考“理性”？非人类系统在任何非平凡意义上都能表现出理性吗？在本文中，我们提出，在某些情况下，所有生物体都以标准图景（SP）的意义表现出不同程度和方面的理性：它们的推理过程符合逻辑和概率规则。我们首先表明，根据卡尔沃和弗里斯顿（J R Soc Interface 14(131):20170096, 2017）和奥兰迪（2018）的观点，所有生物系统都必须体现一种自上而下的过程（主动推理）来最小化自由能。接下来，基于马迪的分析（Second philosophy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007; The logical must: Wittgenstein on logic, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014），我们认为这个推理过程符合逻辑和概率规则；因此，它满足了 SP，这解释了在鸽子和老鼠中发现的基本逻辑和算术（例如，分类和编号）。我们还认为，哺乳动物的大脑只是实现理性的众多方法之一。最后，我们讨论了来自微生物的数据来支持这一观点。
