Bruineberg and colleagues helpfully distinguish between instrumental and ontological interpretations of Markov blankets, exposing the dangers of using the former to make claims about the latter. However, proposing a sharp distinction neglects the value of recognising a continuum spanning from instrumental to ontological. This value extends to the related distinction between being and having a model.
Funding
Computational Neurophenomenology: Explaining Concious Experiences in terms of Neural Mechanisms : EUROPEAN UNION | 101019254