Flexibility, smoothness, and the “muscular gestalt”
Generally, in acquiring a skill—in learning to drive, dance, or pronounce a foreign language, for example—at first we must slowly, awkwardly, and consciously follow the rules. But then there comes a moment when we finally can perform automatically. At this point we do not seem to be simply dropping these same rigid rules into unconsciousness; rather we seem to have picked up the muscular gestalt which gives our behavior a new flexibility and smoothness. The same holds for acquiring the skill of perception. (Dreyfus, 1972/79, 248–249; second edition wording)
—Haugeland, J., 2000: Mind Embodied and Embedded, p. 18. Chapter 9 in Haugeland, J., 2000: Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind. Harvard University Press. (Citing Dreyfus, H. L., 1972/79: What Computers Can’t Do [Part III; “The Role of the Body in Intelligent Behavior”]).
author:dreyfus-hubert book:dreyfus-what-computers-can’t-do author:haugeland-john book:haugeland-having-thought paper:haugeland-mind-embodied-and-embedded snip:muscular-gestalt skill proficiency flow flexibility intimacy skill-acquisition learning muscular-gestalt perception list:mind-body-world
