Abstract: Peirce and Whitehead share a common project: to restrict the over-extension of reductio... more Abstract: Peirce and Whitehead share a common project: to restrict the over-extension of reductionism, to show how matter must be sensate and to create an ontology of process and subjectivity. This article claims that biosemiotics can assist this project. Moreover, it shows that the concept of affordance is a means to produce a theory of causation that embraces physical, natural and cultural levels of order.
Very fine plastic shrinkage crack is often reported to occur on vacuum processed concrete slab, w... more Very fine plastic shrinkage crack is often reported to occur on vacuum processed concrete slab, which is considered due to cement-richness of a surface layer. A shrinkage-reduction admixture is used in order to prevent such plastic shrinkage cracks. Although the cracks can be avoided by this method, white powders of CaCO3 sometimes appear on the surface. The effects of the admixture and curing condition were investigated on the amount of powders and the bond strength. It was found that appropriate addition of the admixture successfully reduces the plastic shrinkage cracks without producing powders on the surface.
Natural mimicry is ubiquitous. Plants mimic animals, animals mimic plants, animals mimic each oth... more Natural mimicry is ubiquitous. Plants mimic animals, animals mimic plants, animals mimic each other and animals may even mimic counterfactual states that deceive or distract other animals. Almost all natural mimicry is based on iconicity which hence anchors it in real world resemblances. The vast majority of natural mimicry is done unconsciously but when humans mimic, they know what they are doing. As Merlin Donald suggest, mimicry may in fact have played a crucial role in the emergence of the human condition, allowing new forms of cognition to emerge. Here it is suggested that the role played by mimicry may have involved the evolution of a capacity for metaphorical perception, where an object may not only be seen 'as is' but also 'as if' it was a functional mimic of something else. This new form of mimicry made possible new forms of communication, cooperation and creative engagement with the environment. Once these developed to the point where they produced symbolic systems and other cultural tools, the nature of human mimicry expanded radically. No longer anchored in resemblance, it became detached and qualitatively distinct from natural forms. The consequences of this detachment are now becoming clear.
tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society
Peirce and Whitehead share a common project: to restrict the over-extension of reductionism, to s... more Peirce and Whitehead share a common project: to restrict the over-extension of reductionism, to show how matter must be sensate and to create an ontology of process and subjectivity. This article claims that biosemiotics can assist this project. Moreover, it shows that the concept of affordance is a means to produce a theory of causation that embraces physical, natural and cultural levels of order.
A model is described for the processing of word-like (regular) and nonword-like (irregular) lette... more A model is described for the processing of word-like (regular) and nonword-like (irregular) letter strings in a situation where either type of string may occur. It is proposed that each type of string is processed by specialised routines which are deployed contingently on an initial decision about the regularity of an item. Three experiments involving word/nonword and same/different responses investigate how the processing of a string is affected by the brief exposure of a prior string. It is shown that processing is interfered with less when both strings are of the same degree of regularity than when they are not. The model is revised and extended in the light of the results obtained as well as some theoretical considerations.
Learning to Live with Madonna: or Mature Students on Campus
Pastoral Care in Education, 1992
... Later the same evening the tutor was walking round his hall. ... The room door was open, six ... more ... Later the same evening the tutor was walking round his hall. ... The room door was open, six or seven students had managed to squeeze themselves into the room and were doing their best to make themselves heard above the sounds of a Madonna cassette. ...
What distinguishes affordances from events depends on the capacities of the perceiver, in the sen... more What distinguishes affordances from events depends on the capacities of the perceiver, in the sense of distinction between open versus closed behavioral programs (Popper, 1978, p. 353). Recent evolutionary history has rendered human perceptual capacities uniquely open. As well as formalization, deeper consideration of mutuality relations will enrich the concept of affordance and link the ecological approach to recent developments in psychology.
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Papers by John Pickering