Ralph Bannell

One of the hottest topics of current debate are so-called intelligent technologies. Apart from the development and application of these technologies in almost all dimensions of life, there is a heated debate in philosophy and cognitive science about the possibility of general Artificial Intelligence, that is, the possibility of such artificial systems becoming conscious and acquiring the same cognitive capacities as human beings. In this chapter, I will argue that such predictions cannot be realized unless the artificial systems have organic bodies and aesthetic sensibilities, which make it possible to have experience and produce meaning in ways similar to human beings. After looking briefly at the present-day dominant model of mind, I will look at the concepts of experience, aesthetic sensibility and production of meaning through the lens of John Dewey’s work and the work of the philosopher Mark Johnson, influenced by his thought. This analysis shows why artificial systems and “intelligent” technologies are not capable of aesthetic sensibility, and that they cannot be producers of meaning and, therefore, subjects of experience.

Esse artigo analisa alguns aspectos da teoria da cognição, de Jürgen Habermasa partir de seus escritos mais recentes sobre epistemologia e metafísica. Tentasituar sua teoria pragmática da aprendizagem no modelo de uma transcendênciaimanente. Mostra sua apropriação de duas tradições da filosofia da linguagem,– a tradição Hamann-Herder-Humboldt e a tradição anglo-americana – a fimde analisar a construção do conhecimento empírico a partir da virada lingüística,especificamente a articulação entre aspectos semânticos e pragmáticos. A partirdaí, o artigo elabora, tentativamente, algumas críticas à análise de Habermas,especialmente no que se refere às questões envolvendo a referência, o realismo,bem como seu modelo de justificação racional.The aim of this article is to analyze aspects of Jurgen Habermas’ theory ofcognition as developed in his most recent writings on epistemology andmetaphysics. The article attempts to situate his pragmatic theory of learningin the model of an immanent transcendence. Moreover, we show Habermas’appropriation of two traditions of philosophy of language – the HamannHerder-Humboldtand Anglo-Americantraditions – in order to analyze theconstructionof empirical knowledge as it takes shape with the linguisticturn,specifically in the articulation between semantic and pragmatic aspects.Wethen go on to elaborate a critique of Habermas’analysis, regardingquestionsrelated to reference, realism, and his model of rational justification.