Dr Neville Buch

Professional Historian and History Consultancy Services Brisbane

The process of learning are principles we find in philosophy, whether discipline philosophy or Lebensphilosophie (or both). From a Perspective of “The Dynamic of Cognition (Person)” the argument is the same as the process of learning. With self-awareness and the awareness of ‘The Other’, cognition is learning.

 

 

The Teaching Document is also at https://www.academia.edu/145065676/The_Process_of_Learning_and_The_Dynamic_of_Cognition

 

 

 

And Attached

The Process of Learning and The Dynamic of Cognition

 

 

 

 

The Dynamic of Cognition: Two Important elements

 

 

Attitudes:

An attitude is described as a “residue of experience that conditions and controls activity”. It’s a “mental organization that pre-disposes an individual to a certain type of activity vis-à-vis people or situations”. This suggests that past experiences shape our tendencies to act in particular ways.

 

 

Values:

Values are seen as “personal attitudes and beliefs which influence functional and nonfunctional requirements”. This perspective connects values to the formation of our needs and expectations, particularly in the context of design and engineering. In “values-first software engineering,” complex problems like sustainability are treated as “soft goals” influenced by values. Human values can be classified and aligned with system values, revealing themes like efficiency and usability. Values are embedded in political discourses and are considered “salient and resistant to change,” potentially bridging different viewpoints.

 

THE ARGUMENT

 

 

 

 

 

The central argument presented is that cognition is fundamentally a continuous, self-aware philosophical process whose successful outcome requires the constant reversal of intellectual exclusion. Failure to maintain this dynamic learning process results in cognitive stagnation.

 

This argument can be broken down into the following propositions:

 

 

  1. Learning is a Philosophical and Self-Aware Dynamic

The process of learning encompasses principles found in philosophy, including both discipline philosophy and Lebensphilosophie (philosophy of life). From the perspective of “The Dynamic of Cognition (Person),” the process of learning is viewed as being the same as cognition.

Crucially, cognition is learning when it is coupled with self-awareness and the awareness of ‘The Other’.

 

 

  1. Attitudes Govern Activity

The learning process is deeply conditioned by attitudes, which are defined as a “residue of experience that conditions and controls activity”.

 

 

  1. Continuous Evaluation and Inclusion are Mandatory

The process of learning requires constant intellectual work, structured as follows:

 

 

  1. The Goal is “Fitness”

The entire process of learning, driven by these principles, ultimately arrives at an outcome described as “fitness,” a goal which the process always asks for.

In summation, the source argues that human cognition is not static, but a dynamic mandate to continuously incorporate new and previously excluded ideas into one’s focus, leading toward a state of philosophical and practical “fitness”. This is because stagnation in learning leads to cognitive failure (becoming an “idiot”).