Learning as Becoming Conscious: A note on Jablonka and Ginsburg’s Notion of Learning
Biosemiotics November 3, 2022 DOI: 10.1007/s12304-022-09510-x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 10 |
| Key points | Argues that Jablonka and Ginsburg's use of learning as an evolutionary transition marker for consciousness, supported by biosemiotics, forces biosemiotics and learning theory to confront difficult questions about agency, selfhood, consciousness, and anthropological difference. The author explores these questions with particular reference to Andrew Stables' semiotic learning theory, which has been readily nested in a biosemiotic framework. |
Abstract
Abstract This commentary addresses the concept of learning stemming from Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg’s theory of the emergence of consciousness. Jablonka and Ginsburg find strong support in biosemiotics for their argument that learning offers an evolutionary transition marker for the emergence of consciousness. Indeed, biosemiotics embraces a view on evolution that integrates both phylogeny and ontogeny. It does not polarize learning and evolving. At the same time, Jablonka and Ginsburg’s argument gives both biosemiotics and learning theory a shake, forcing scholarship in these fields to tackle difficult questions on agency, selfhood, consciousness and anthropological difference. I explore some of the main questions that arise from this theoretical development, particularly in reference to Andrew Stables’ semiotic learning theory, which has been easily nested in a biosemiotic framework.