Abstract
Freedom is first and foremost the pursuit of an activity that chooses to defend one thesis among other possible ones. This expression in articulated language presupposes a complex bodily apparatus and nervous system, which are often taken for granted. This paper seeks to explore this underlying basis of the problem of freedom, as well as the suggestion that the notion of coding may provide a bridge between nature and mind.
When organisms invent, do they do so spontaneously, incorporating within themselves a stochastic concatenation of accidental events, or do they attempt to select from among a limited number of patterns endowed with optimal functioning? If organisms are regarded as subject to physical forces, it is because one seeks to universalize possible “laws” of a passively conceived nature.
It is suggested here that epistemological inquiry must become more localized and acknowledge a hierarchy of dispositions in relation to the phenomenon of selection. Finally, it is argued that privileging affirmation over negation entails the need to reintegrate the knowing subject, as well as form, into the very act of understanding, without thereby assigning it a spontaneous role.
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