(ps 920823.1900)
In article <92Aug22.140417pdt.38019@huh.parc.xerox.com>
sibun@parc.xerox.com writes:
>i really recommend preston's paper. it starts at exactly the same
>place as yr blind men paper, adn draws a v. diff conclusion.
I send a preprint request to Beth Preston but I am just burning
with curiosity. Did she start off with the simultaneous equations
for a closed loop system and come up with different conclusions
about its apparent "behavior" in relationship to environmental
variables and constraints?
no; you saw the abstract. she started off w/ saying that behaviorism
and cognitivism are looking at different aspects of the same thing.
They do make some, well, strange statements, the meaning of which
seem to be left to the reader's imagination. For example, I never
got a clear explanation (I thought) of this gem (also on p. 21):
"We have found, in the case studies that we conducted, that
participating in the flow of the environment, rather than attempting
to control it, can simplify the machinery required to account for
the organization of activity". If they are not saying something
trivially obvious I would really like to know what it is. As it stands,
they are talking about ``leaning on the world.''
cheers.
--penni