Active Inference and Abduction

Pietarinen A., Beni M.

BIOSEMIOTICS, vol.14, no.2, pp.499-517, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 14 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s12304-021-09432-0
  • Journal Name: BIOSEMIOTICS
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.499-517
  • Keywords: Abduction, Active inference, Free-energy principle, Friston blanket, Triadic relations, Peirce, FREE-ENERGY PRINCIPLE, SELF-ORGANIZATION, MINIMIZATION
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The background target of the research going into the present article is to forge an intellectual alliance between, on the one hand, active inference and the free-energy principle (FEP), and on the other, Charles S. Peirce's theory of semiotics and pragmatism. In the present paper, the focus is on the allegiance between the nomenclatures of active and abductive inferences as the proper place to begin reaching at that wider target. The paper outlines the key conceptual elements involved in a naturalistic rendering of Peirce's late semiotic and logical notion of abductive reasoning. The target is a cognitive-biological model of abduction which preserves the functional integrity of an organism and fulfils the existential imperative for living beings' evidence of existence. Such a model is an adaptation of Peirce's late logical schema of abduction proposed in his largely unpublished works during the early 20th century. The proposed model is argued to be a feasible sketch also of recent breakthroughs in computational (sensu Bayesian) cognitive science.