9 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche y Wired Bodies Wired Bodies New Perspectives on New Perspectives on the Machine-Organism Analogy m Analog s the Machine-Organism Analogy relationship between human sciences and life sciences and practices, and to stimulate new theoretical perspectives capable of supporting the communication and interaction Organi - Editors Western philosophy and science. Notwithstanding its apparent simplicity, it Nicole Dalia Cilia hides complex epistemological issues about the status of both organism and machine and the nature of their interaction. What is the real object of this Luca Tonetti analogy: organisms as a whole, their parts or, rather, bodily functions? How e Machine h can the machine serve as a model for interpreting biological phenomena, t cognitive processes, or more broadly the social and cultural transformations of n the relations between individuals, and between individuals and the environ- o s Wired bodies. New perspectives on the machine-organism analogy provides the ive reader with some of the latest perspectives on this vast debate, addressing t three major topics: 1) the development of a ‘mechanistic’ framework in ec medicine and biology; 2) the methodological issues underlying the use of sp ‘simulation’ in cognitive science; 3) the interaction between humans and th machines according to 20 century epistemology. Per w Contributors: . Ne Francesco Bianchini, Elisa Binda, Giuseppe Boccignone, Nicole Dalia Cilia, s Francesco De Bei, Mattia Della Rocca, Simone Guidi, Fiorenza Lupi, Alessandra Passariello, Francesco Restuccia, Luca Tonetti, Valentina Trombetta. die o Nicole Dalia Cilia is PhD in Philosophy and History of Philosophy at Sapienza, University of Rome. Her research interests concern the epistemo- logy of cognitive models, computational neuroscience and experimental psychology. Wired B Luca Tonetti is PhD in Philosophy and History of Philosophy at Sapienza, University of Rome. His main research interests concern the history of science and medicine in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a particular focus on the history of medicine in Italy. Cover illustration: Vito Fabrizio Brugnola, Singularity (2016) € 12,00 978 88 8080 236 5 Filosofia e saperi – 9 Sconfinamenti tra i saperi umanistici e le scienze della vita Crossing borders between the humanities and the life sciences Collana dell’Istituto per la storia del pensiero filosofico e scientifico moderno (ISPF) del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Book series of the Institute for the History of Philosophy and Science in Modern Age, National Research Council, Italy Diretta da / Editors Silvia Caianiello, ISPF, CNR, Italy Maria Conforti, University of Rome La Sapienza Manuela Sanna, ISPF, CNR, Italy The book series “Filosofia e saperi”, active from 2009, has renewed in 2016 its scientific mission, adding the subtitle “Sconfinamenti tra i saperi umanistici e le scienze della vita / Crossing borders between the humanities and the life sciences”, enlarging its Scientific Committee and accepting texts also in English and in the other major European lan- guages. Its scope is to promote research committed to a dynamical representation of the relationship between human sciences and life sciences and practices, and to stimulate new theoretical perspectives capable of supporting the communication and interaction between different disciplinary fields and thought styles. The research fields addressed by the book series are: • history and philosophy of the life sciences • bioethics • history of scientific concepts and metaphors • public understanding of life sciences • social and political history of life sciences • history of scientific collections and museums • art and life sciences iconography • scientific practices and sites of knowledge production in life sciences Contact for submissions: [email protected] Copyright © MMXVI CNR Edizioni www.edizioni.cnr.it [email protected] P.le Aldo Moro 7 00185 Roma ISBN 978 88 8080 236 5 I diritti di traduzione, di memorizzazione elettronica, di riproduzione e di adattamento anche parziale, con qualsiasi mezzo, sono riservati per tutti i paesi Non sono assolutamente consentite fotocopie senza permesso scritto dell’Editore I edizione: marzo 2017 Stampa Arti Grafiche Bruno - T. Greco Comitato scientifico / Editorial Board Marta Bertolaso Università Campus Bio-Medico, Roma, Italy Matthias Bruhn Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany Elena Canadelli Università di Padova, Italy Emilia D’Antuono Università Federico II, Napoli, Italy Ariane Dröscher Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy Mariacarla Gadebusch Bondio Technische Universität München, Germany Philippe Huneman Institut d’Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques, Paris, France Girolamo Imbruglia Università di Napoli L’Orientale, Italy Massimo Mazzotti University of California at Berkeley, USA Alessandro Minelli Università di Padova, Italy Claudio Pogliano Università di Pisa, Italy Olivier Remaud Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France Hans-Jörg Rheinberger Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany Responsabile editoriale ISPF David Armando Redazione Alessia Scognamiglio www.ispf.cnr.it This volume is funded by the PhD program in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Sapienza University of Rome Wired Bodies New Perspectives on the Machine-Organism Analogy Editors Nicole Dalia Cilia Luca Tonetti Contributors Francesco Bianchini Elisa Binda Giuseppe Boccignone Nicole Dalia Cilia Francesco De Bei Mattia Della Rocca Simone Guidi Fiorenza Lupi Alessandra Passariello Francesco Restuccia Luca Tonetti Valentina Trombetta Table of Contents Preface 9 Elena Gagliasso Introduction 13 Nicole Dalia Cilia - Luca Tonetti I - The Development of a “Mechanistic” Framework in Medicine and Philosophy 27 Mechanism Prehistory and the Strange Case of Cureau de La Chambre 29 Simone Guidi Machines and Diseases: Giorgio Baglivi and his Mechanistic Physiopathology 37 Luca Tonetti Early Organicism and its Juggling Machines: Further from Nature, Closer to Organisms 45 Alessandra Passariello From Brains as Machines to Machines as Brains. A Short Historical and Epistemological Reflection on the Simulation and “Reverse Engineering” of the Central Nervous System 53 Mattia Della Rocca II - Understanding by Building. The Use of Simulation in Cognitive Science 59 Understand Me or Duplicate Me? Levels of Explanation in Artificial Methodology 61 Nicole Dalia Cilia Take Another Little Piece of my Heart: A Note on Bridging Cognition and Emotions 69 Giuseppe Boccignone The Role of Emotions and Intrinsic Motivations on Decision-Making: a Comparison between Natural and Artificial Systems 81 Valentina Trombetta The Synthetic Approach and the Evolution of Cognition 91 Francesco Bianchini III - Bodily Boundaries and Beyond: Machines Extend the Bodies and their World? 99 The Organism, Maker of Machines 101 Fiorenza Lupi Towards a Philosophy of Interaction. The Relation between Organism, Technique and Environment in Gilbert Simondon 109 Elisa Binda Mixed Systems and Interplay. Norbert Wiener meets Walter Benjamin 117 Francesco Restuccia Only connect. The Contribution of Michael Tomasello to the Machine-Organism Symbiosis 127 Francesco De Bei Abstracts 135 Index of Names Preface Elena Gagliasso The reading group “Evolution & Cognition” was established in March 2012 at the Department of Philosophy of Sapienza University in Rome. The group met once a week to review a scientific paper, chosen from a list pro- posed by its members. The first members were, in particular, PhD students in Philosophy of Science (Laura Desirée Di Paolo, Fabio Sterpetti, Andrea Raimondi, Flavia Fabris, Diego Antonio De Simone), but it was immediately extended to PhD students and researchers from other disciplinary fields, such as Moral Philosophy (Eleonora Severini) and even Palaeoanthropology (Fa- bio Di Vincenzo). Despite its intense schedule, the group quickly started to attract both undergraduate and master students ( Jacopo D’Alonzo, Giuliana Pulvirenti, Valeria Di Giovannandrea, and Ivan D’Annibale). More recently, it has welcomed new PhD students in cognitive science (Nicole Dalia Cilia), history of science (David Ceccarelli, Luca Tonetti), and semiotics (Massi- miliano Napoli). The group “Evolution & Cognition” has born spontaneously, and has rapidly developed in a multidisciplinary direction, inspired by the pluralistic approach in Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Its interest was mainly focused on concepts related to the latest advancements in science and contemporary philosophy: in the theory of evolution and cognitive studies, in philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind, epigenetics, behavioural studies on non-hu- man primates, niche-construction, neurobiology, the relationship between morality and evolutionary biology, human evolution, and particularly the epistemological issues arising from the clash between realist and constructiv- ist explanations in naturalized approaches. The activities of the earlier group encouraged its members to share knowl- edge and familiarize, often building long lasting friendships. How to make available to others the experience, limited in time, of such a group that exist- ed for pure passion? One of the main difficulties was the annual rotation of PhD students. The academic landscape in our country was then (and still is!) experiencing a dire recession, whose most direct effect on the group was the diaspora of young researchers, many of which have now taken up positions 9 Elena Gagliasso in different universities