Xabier Barandiaran - University of the Basque Country, Spain
Biography
Title: What is goal directed behaviour? From biological autonomy to intentional action
Abstract: Goal-directed behavior is a central theme in understanding both biological and cognitive processes. This talk explores the concept from an organismic perspective, focusing on how autonomy underpins the emergence of goal-directed behaviour. Drawing from contemporary enactive and organizational apporaches to autonomy, we will examine how goal-directedness is a natural phenomenon that can be understood to span from simple metabolism-driven behaviour to complex intentional action. Starting with the foundational notion of autonomous systems, I will trace the evolution of adaptive behaviour from biological self-maintenance, to sensorimotor habitual to fully intentional (yet pre-linguistic, non-intelectualist) action, emphasizing the dynamic presuppositions that govern sensorimotor coordination patterns. Key to this analysis is the hierarchical and nested structure of goals within biological organisms, which allows for adaptability and error correction. By examining both normative functionality and behavioral errors, we uncover the minimal requirements for defining teleological behavior in organisms.
