Umwelt
An umwelt (plural: umwelten; from the German Umwelt, meaning "environment" or "surroundings") is the specific way in which organisms of a particular species perceive and experience the world, shaped by the capabilities of their sensory organs and perceptual systems.
In the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas Sebeok, it is considered to be the "biological foundations that lie at the very center of the study of both communication and signification in the human [and non-human] animal". Often translated as "self-centered world," the term highlights how organisms, despite sharing the same physical environment, can inhabit distinct perceptual realities.
Uexküll proposed that each species has its own umwelt, a notion complemented by related concepts like Umgebung (the environment or Umwelt as observed externally) and Innenwelt (the internal mapping of the self to the external world). These ideas hold particular significance for fields such as cognitive philosophy, robotics, and cybernetics, offering insights into resolving complex problems like the infinite regress of the Cartesian Theater—the flawed notion of an endless chain of internal observers watching consciousness, which Umwelt reframes as a unified biological process.
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