More on dynamic systems

Following up on this post.

In several posts above I noted how image schema were in the middle of classical taxonomic hierarchies. That in itself changes said assumptions inherent to hierarchical complexity. So see this article by Kurt Fischer (also cited in several posts above) on dynamic skill theory wherein he uses dynamic systems theory. In particular, see the section on this starting at page 20. E.g., as related to the middle of things:

"People act in medias res – in the middle of things in the real world, not merely as logical agents acting on objects rationally and without emotion."

This statement is in the context of discussing developmental skill capacity, how it varies over a wide range depending on environmental support. I have though associated it with image schema, and how the latter change the very nature of hierarchical complexity.


And I'm reminded of Zak Stein's essay on mind as ecosystem, which first off acknowledges Lakoff et al. for how metaphors affect how we approach the world. The mind as computer metaphor has a host of working assumptions that delimit modeling, not the least of which is classical set theory based thereon. Stein studyed with Fischer at Harvard so took the latter's dynamic systems approach to development including this ecological tenet: "There is not one central 'unit' that can serve as an overall measure of the ecosystem." Hence the use of dynamic systems theory to account for these 'multifractal' interactions.