Computation and the explanation of intelligent behaviour: ethologically motivated restart

Computational theorizing is fruitfully pursued in the investigation of sensorimotor coordination mechanisms of simple biological systems, such as unicellular organism chemotaxis. These investigations undermine the sweeping "dynamicist" claim according to which intelligent and adaptive behaviours in biological systems are to be accounted for in terms of continuous dynamical systems. Moreover, these investigations suggest the opportunity of developing a more fine-grained framework for analyzing the hierarchical interplay between computational, dynamical, and hybrid models of adaptive behaviours in both biological systems and machines. Key epistemological issues arising in this context are clearly identified in Turing's and von Neumann's early remarks on the computational modelling of intelligent behaviours and brain functions.