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Enough blanket metaphysics, time for data-driven heuristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Wiktor Rorot Open the ORCID record for Wiktor Rorot [Opens in a new window] ,
Tomasz Korbak Open the ORCID record for Tomasz Korbak [Opens in a new window] ,
Piotr Litwin Open the ORCID record for Piotr Litwin [Opens in a new window]  and
Marcin Miłkowski Open the ORCID record for Marcin Miłkowski [Opens in a new window]
Wiktor Rorot
Affiliation:
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland w.rorot@uw.edu.pl https://wiktor.rorot.pl Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 00-183 Warszawa, Poland piotr.litwin@psych.uw.edu.pl
Tomasz Korbak
Affiliation:
Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK tomasz.korbak@gmail.com https://tomekkorbak.com
Piotr Litwin
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 00-183 Warszawa, Poland piotr.litwin@psych.uw.edu.pl
Marcin Miłkowski
Affiliation:
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland mmilkows@ifispan.edu.pl http://marcinmilkowski.pl/
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Abstract

Bruineberg and colleagues criticisms' have been received but downplayed in the free energy principle (FEP) literature. We strengthen their points, arguing that Friston blanket discovery, even if tractable, requires a full formal description of the system of interest at the outset. Hence, blanket metaphysics is futile, and we postulate that researchers should turn back to heuristic uses of Pearl blankets.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e206
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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