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Anticipation : learning from the past: the Russian/Soviet contributions to the science of anticipation
Nadin M., Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, New York, NY, 2015. 520 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319194-45-5)
Date Reviewed: Nov 16 2015

The best place to start while trying to understand this volume is to define the science of anticipation. In the introduction, the volume provides a definition: “an anticipatory system is a system whose current state depends not only upon previous states, but also upon future possible states” (p. 4). Since the debunking of vitalism, which maintained a clear distinction between the living and the non-living, well-known academics such as Arthur Eddington, John Eccles, and Henri Bergson have variously defined anticipation as a result of Soviet thought, but no definition has achieved consensus. The lack of consensus characterizes the volume and is complicated by the fact that the Soviet thinkers contained herein are largely unappreciated or even unknown in the West, arising as they do from behind the Iron Curtain. Nonetheless, the uniqueness and value of the book should be clearer as a result.

The contributors are significant, and they have intellectual value to share. Moreover, the background of those included is important to consider. The contributions are from an international conference of scientists from Russia, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Israel, and the US. However, this is a reference publication, and not a conference proceedings volume, and the authors, both those actually conferencing or contributors who did not present but who were important to consider, are included. What we have here are largely unread luminaries and subsequent commentary by contributors in the emerging field of anticipatory studies.

The first factor to consider while reading is to appreciate that basic definitional points may be a bit murky and the references may be disjointed. The reason for this is the fact that the readings are not harmonized by a guiding and central understanding. As the editor states:

anticipation is no longer reducible to physics, or to psychology, or to physiology, or to any other field of knowledge. It has ascertained its own domain of knowledge. The conference, together with the volume arising from it, is yet another instance in this process (p. 7).

The book is divided into six parts on dominance studies; functional systems; physiology of activity; theory of set; evolutionary, behavioral, and theoretical approaches; and medical and applied perspectives. Dominance theory is an early attempt to scientifically study the relationship of life and mind, and human behavior in particular. Functional systems have opened up new approaches for studying the systemic organization of brain functions. The physiology of activity part includes “Pavlovian approaches, the interdependence of action and perception, the centrality of goals and intentions, the role of repetition, and the nature of dexterity.” The part on the theory of set analyzes experimental data on unconscious retrieval of information embedded in past experiences and the mechanism of its expression in behavior. Evolutionary, behavioral, and theoretical approaches encompass inferential processes and executive function. Finally, the shortest part of the book is on medical and applied perspectives. For example, “psychophysiological diagnostics helps to reveal the mechanisms of normal and deviant intellectual development and behavior, and allows us to reassess opportunities of psychophysiological correction and rehabilitation.”

To summarize the value of this volume is to raise a number of interesting points. The generality of anticipation raises many questions for the contributions included here. In one sense, clearly it shows that anticipation is a general feature of at least the six parts of research disciplines and observed phenomena noted. As a result, anticipation traverses disciplinary boundaries and could become a point of unifying perspective, but are these researchers treating phenomena in a uniform manner or in ways that are essentially different? Any proposed theory of anticipation may be flawed, unfortunately, and “anticipation” may become a catchall term for too many disparate phenomena so as to be scientifically unhelpful. More consideration of these largely unknown thinkers is needed, and the resulting dialogue may clarify anticipation. Second, the value of the volume also should be appreciated in that the Soviet thinkers contained within are not appreciated and largely unknown outside their immediate circles. This is an oversight that is corrected with the publication of this volume. Moreover, an international group of scholars is represented in this work and as a result the scholars have their own reactions and evaluations of the Soviets to share. If the readers understand the uniqueness of the work and realize that anticipation studies are emerging, they will appreciate the effort that has gone into the production of this work.

Readers may find other related works that supplement this volume helpful [1,2,3,4].

Reviewer:  G. Mick Smith Review #: CR143957 (1602-0102)
1) Butz, M. V.; Sigaud, O.; Baldassarre, G. Anticipatory behavior in adaptive learning systems: from brain to individual on social behavior. Springer, Berlin, 2007.
2) Butz, M. V.; Sigaud, O.; Gerard, P. Anticipatory behavior in adaptive learning systems. Springer, Berlin, 2003.
3) Rosen, R. Anticipatory systems: philosophical, mathematical and methodological foundations. Pergamon Press, Oxford, UK, 1985.
4) Nadin, M. Mind-anticipation and chaos. Belser Presse, Stuttgart/Zurich, 1991.
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