Allostatic Kinds: Towards a Taxonomy of Permutations of Subject-Object Directionality in Causation

Abstract: One of the most fundamental influences on biological systems is the differentiation of a system’s external and internal associations, and the interfacing, permeability, and situating of phenomena in regard to these boundaries. Our arena of interest is the continuous balancing of internal regulatory structural integrity, processing endogenous information and survival-driven needs, and interpreting information or environmental contexts external to the system. Investigation of this interfacing can give insight into a plethora of regulatory principles, including those which underpin elements of individual cognition, and social or multi-agent relations.

Allostatic regulatory processes influence and shape boundaries of basic units that form coherent human meaning and internal narration. These processes can be understood as permutations of the subjectivity, objectivity, or intersubjectivity of a given relation. They also shape the direction of causality in interactions involving an agent and its environment. While these allostatic types are derived from principles of information theory, namely signal processing and epistemological selectors of knowledge, these fields have commonalities with categorical definitions in Jungian psychology and Indigenous wisdom traditions.

We seek to differentiate and illustrate the nature of these relational-boundary interactions. We bridge from Heyglighen’s evolutionary-cybernetic epistemology to introduce a taxonomy of allostatic types across varying arenas of activity. We also discuss developing agent-based models to demonstrate allostatic types in multi-agent settings. Further research may lead to enhancements in cognitive architectures, enabling more robust, generalizable artificial agents.