JoLMA The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts

Journal | JoLMA
Monographic journal issue | 1 | 2 | 2020
Research Article | Enactivism and Normativity

Enactivism and Normativity

The Case of Aesthetic Gestures

Abstract

Enactivist approaches claim that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment. An ongoing challenge for these approaches is the problem of accounting for normativity while avoiding overly reductionist outcomes. This article examines a few proposed solutions, including agent-environment dynamics, participatory sense-making, radical enactivism, the skilful intentionality framework, and enactivist cultural psychology. It argues that good examples of enacted normativity are gestures of appreciation/disapproval performed in the aesthetic domain. Both Wittgenstein and Dewey explore this issue and their ideas could be productively worked upon in an enactive account.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 21, 2020 | Accepted: July 25, 2020 | Published Dec. 9, 2020 | Language: en

Keywords GesturesNormativityPragmatismEnactivismWittgenstein


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