Cognitive and Practical Perspectives on Resilience, Organization and Entangled Systems

A special issue of Systems (ISSN 2079-8954). This special issue belongs to the section "Systems Practice in Social Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1395

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Research Group for Computational & Organizational Cognition, Department of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark
Interests: phenomenology; cognitive science; process philosophy; distributed cognition; theories about social organizing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human cognition fundamentally involves the world, while classical cognitivist theories explore cognition as the brain’s internal processes, proponents of non-cognitivist approaches (e.g., enactive, embodied, extended, and ecological perspectives) emphasize the interrelation between agents and their socio-material environments.

This Special Issue aims to provide a platform for advancing non-cognitivist approaches to cognition by exploring topics specifically related to the human socio-practical realm. This includes phenomena such as practices, technologies (including AI and robotics), infrastructures, organizations, institutions, and more. We welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions, inviting disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions from scholars in Cognitive Science, Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Organizational Theory, Linguistics, Systems Theory, and related fields.

The Special Issue has a threefold focus on the following themes: Resilience, Organization, and Entangled Systems.

  • Resilience: This theme concerns how flexibly adaptive systems manage to either withstand external pressures or return to a normal or improved state following a perturbation or threat. In the context of human practices, resilience involves how systems of different kinds (e.g., social, cognitive, technical) are either designed or evolve to be robust, contributing to the development of human cultural ecosystems.
  • Organization: This theme addresses how cognition is organized, both in the sense of how social normativity relates to cognitive processes (e.g., memory, perception, decision-making, intentionality) and practical activities, and in how cognition interrelates with socio-practical organizations such as practices, organizations, groups, relationships, and languages.
  • Entangled Systems: This theme relates to the fact that cognition unfolds through the interactions of various systems (e.g., social, biological, technical, linguistic), inviting interdisciplinary exploration of human cognition in its practical aspects.

Prospective contributors are encouraged to submit an abstract to the Guest Editor (rga@sdu.dk) before submitting the full manuscript.

Dr. Rasmus Gahrn-Andersen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • cognition
  • practices
  • ecosystems
  • normativity
  • sociality

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 235 KiB  
Communication
Talking Resilience: Embedded Natural Language Cyber-Organizations by Design
by Andrea Tomassi, Andrea Falegnami and Elpidio Romano
Systems 2025, 13(4), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13040247 - 2 Apr 2025
Viewed by 305
Abstract
This communication examines the interplay between linguistic mediation and knowledge conversion in cyber-sociotechnical systems (CSTSs) via the WAx framework, which outlines various work representations and eight key conversion activities. Grounded in enactivist principles, we argue that language is a dynamic mechanism that shapes, [...] Read more.
This communication examines the interplay between linguistic mediation and knowledge conversion in cyber-sociotechnical systems (CSTSs) via the WAx framework, which outlines various work representations and eight key conversion activities. Grounded in enactivist principles, we argue that language is a dynamic mechanism that shapes, and is shaped by, human–machine interactions, enhancing system resilience and adaptability. By integrating the concepts of simplexity, complixity, and complexity compression, we illustrate how complex cognitive and operational processes can be selectively condensed into efficient outcomes. A case study of a chatbot-based customer support system demonstrates how the phases of socialization, introspection, externalization, combination, internalization, conceptualization, reification, and influence collaboratively drive the evolution of resilient CSTS designs. Our findings indicate that natural language serves as a bridging tool for effective sense-making, adaptive coordination, and continuous learning, offering novel insights into designing technologically advanced, socially grounded, and evolving sociotechnical systems. Full article

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13 pages, 283 KiB  
Essay
Systemic Creative Problem-Solving: On the Poverty of Ideas and the Generative Power of Prototyping
by Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau
Systems 2025, 13(3), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13030150 - 22 Feb 2025
Viewed by 657
Abstract
In this paper, I argue against the prevailing cognitivist view of creativity, proposing instead a systemic approach, and illustrate how from such a systemic perspective, creative problem-solving can be investigated under laboratory conditions. A cognitivist approach explains creativity from an ideation ground zero [...] Read more.
In this paper, I argue against the prevailing cognitivist view of creativity, proposing instead a systemic approach, and illustrate how from such a systemic perspective, creative problem-solving can be investigated under laboratory conditions. A cognitivist approach explains creativity from an ideation ground zero and assumes a diffusion model of ideas. In such a model, the explanandum is an initial idea, formed at a given moment in time, a position that implicitly promotes creative exceptionalism (to explain so-called Big-C creativity compared to little-c creativity) and the concomitant quest to discover the equally exceptional neural substate that ‘explains’ it. Borrowing from science and technology studies, I propose instead a translation model of ideas that proceeds on the basis of interactivity and prototyping. In this model, the explanandum is the resulting dialogue between people and prototypes (treated symmetrically as actants in a system of creation). I outline a methodology that emphasises the co-determination of ideation and the material enactment of ideas in generating creative solutions, illustrated by a study of insight problem-solving. This approach shifts the focus from exceptional cognitive abilities to the material and interactive processes that underpin creative problem-solving. Full article
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