<div dir="ltr">Thank you, Plamen, not only for placing my announcement for about the "intentionality" questionnaire, but for all that you have done in bringing together and putting into discussion so many different thinkers from so many disciplinary backgrounds. That, too, is precisely what the survey of how best to conceptualize the phenomenon/a of "intentionality" for a 21st century science likewise seeks to do! <div><br></div><div>So here, by way of explanation, I have cut-and-pasted a slightly more readable version of the text I sent you, as well as an attachment explaining some of the rationale behind the project. I should stress, to, that while the project itself was born within the community of biosemioticians, it can only probably really succeed with input from the fields of philosophy, information science, molecular and cellular biology, ethology, complex systems theory, communication studies, and many many more. All these research agenda - and certainly everything that has been discussed here and in the pages of the Special Issue will have to tackle the phenomenon of systems so arranged, at least in part, to be "about" something outside or other than themselves. So I sincerely hope that as many members of this mailing list will share their own important and unique perspectives on: (a) how this could be so, and (b) how to go about productively conceptualizing and researching it.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks you all once again for your stimulating discussions! I'm sure that I speak for many others, as well as myself, in saying even those of us who did not write much to it, benefited considerably from reading it!</div><div><br></div><div>With all best wishes always!</div><div><br></div><div>Don</div><div><br></div><div>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hi Plamen!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Thanks for giving me the opportunity to
draw upon the collective insight and expertise of this group! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">By way of explanation: One concern that
joins the FIS with the Biosemiotics group is the need to come up with a
biological but not anthropomorphic understanding of the notion of <i>intentionality</i> – or, as Terrence Deacon
suggests replacing this perhaps already overly-mentalistic term with, <i>“ententionality”, </i>which he defines as:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“a generic adjective to describe all
phenomena that are intrinsically incomplete in the sense of being in
relationship to, constituted by, or <i>organized
to achieve</i> something non-intrinsic…[such] <i>ententional </i>phenomena include: <i>functions</i>
that have satisfaction conditions, <i>adaptations</i>
that have environmental correlates, <i>thoughts</i>
that have contents, <i>purposes</i> that
have goals, <i>subjective experiences</i>
that have a self/other perspective, and v<i>alues</i>
that have a ‘self’ that is benefited or harmed (Deacon 2012:27; italics added).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Such an understanding, again, is one that
is needed both in Biology and in Information Science, and so it seems to me
that the current questionnaire that is now circulating around in Biosemiotics
circles concerning how to best go about conceiving and researching this
phenomenon for those purposes would be very much of interest to those on the
FIS list-serve also. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So with your kind permission, I would like
to ask you to make the following two online survey links available to this
group for their input and consideration:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">PART 1 of this survey consists of 5 simple short answer QUESTIONS
regarding the notion of <i>intentionality</i>, as you think it might be
conceptualized for the purposes of 21<sup>st</sup> century science, and may be
accessed by clicking here: <span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MKHPT97" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-SG">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MKHPT97</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">PART 2 of the survey asks its respondants to consider how the term “intentionality”
has been conceptualized in a small number of previously published QUOTES and to
click on the response that best reflects their opinion of their suitability for
use 21<sup>st</sup> century science. This part of the survey can be accessed by
clicking here: <span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T66XDMH" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-SG">https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T66XDMH</span></a></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Respondents van pick and choose those questions that they
wish to respond to (the system will not require that they respond to them all),
and can also choose to remain anonymous, if they wish, when the results of this
questionnaire are published later in the year in the journal<span><i> </i></span><i>Biosemiotics.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">I do hope that the members of the listserve that were involved in the
Special Issue on Integral Biomathematics of the <i>PBMB</i> will take the opportunity to join us in this project, as we
work to expand our understanding of this neglected organizing principle in both
Biology and Information Science.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">All best wishes and thanks again!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">Don Favareau</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">National University of Singapore</p></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div></div></div>