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The Metaphysics of Enactivism

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The Metaphysics of Enactivism The metaphysics of enactivism: Realism and the egocentric profile Geoff Allen 6867138 Master thesis (History and philosophy of science) Friday 23 July 2021 First supervisor: Dr Brandt van der Gaast Second supervisor: Dr Janneke van Lith Words: 36,080 (excl. bibliography and footnotes) 1 Table of Contents 1. General introduction .................................................................................. 6 1.1. The big picture ............................................................................................ 6 1.2. In the spirit of symmetry ........................................................................... 9 1.3. Enactivism, egocentricity and realism ..................................................... 10 Block A: Enactivism and representationalism ................................ 15 2. Enactivism: A taxonomy ......................................................................... 15 2.1. Masters of movement ............................................................................... 15 2.2. Positions in the representationalism debate ............................................. 18 2.2.1. Cognitivism (pro-representationalism) ................................................ 18 2.2.2. Enactivism (anti-representationalism) ................................................. 19 2.2.3. Sidebar: How does Tiger Woods perceive the world? ........................... 21 2.2.4. A spectrum of positions ........................................................................ 24 2.3. What is representation? .......................................................................... 26 2.3.1. The function of carrying information ................................................... 26 2.3.2. A continuum of representing ............................................................... 28 3. Enactivism: Assessed ............................................................................... 30 3.1. Assessment overview .............................................................................. 30 3.2. Gibson: True anti-representationalism ................................................... 31 3.3. Varela, Thompson and Rosch: Anti-foundationalist enactivism ............ 34 3.4. O’Regan and Noë: Sensorimotor enactivism .......................................... 37 3.4.1. Sensorimotor contingencies .................................................................. 37 3.4.2. Action, exploration and the world as an outside memory .................... 40 3.4.3. Internal processing and sensorimotor knowledge ................................ 42 3.4.4. Representing expectations .................................................................... 45 3.4.5. Representing an index .......................................................................... 48 2 3.4.6. Rehabilitating enactivism ..................................................................... 49 3.5. Clark: Minimal representing .................................................................. 51 3.5.1. An ecumenical approach to representationalism .................................. 51 3.5.2. Minimal versus maximal representations ............................................ 52 4. Enactivism: Cognitive science and empirical evidence ...................... 55 4.1. Evidence for enactivism .......................................................................... 55 4.1.1. Perception does not involve detailed internal representations ............. 55 4.1.2. Action guides perception ...................................................................... 56 4.2. Evidence against enactivism ................................................................... 58 4.2.1. The significance of sensorimotor contingencies ................................... 58 4.3. Closing comments on representationalism ............................................. 59 Block B: Enactivism and egocentricity .............................................. 62 5. Piercing the soap bubble .......................................................................... 62 5.1. What is egocentricity? ............................................................................ 62 5.1.1. From enactivism to egocentricity ......................................................... 62 5.1.2. The world inside a soap bubble ............................................................. 64 5.1.3. Piercing the soap bubble ....................................................................... 65 5.2. Egocentricity and allocentricity in spatial navigation............................ 68 5.2.1. Defining egocentric and allocentric ...................................................... 68 5.2.2. Linking allocentricity and mind-independence .................................... 71 5.2.3. Egocentricity: A world with me at the centre ...................................... 72 5.2.4. Allocentricity: Abstracting away from myself ..................................... 73 5.2.5. Elementary versus complex spatial representations ............................. 76 5.2.6. Variation in human spatial abilities ..................................................... 79 5.3. Applying egocentricity and allocentricity to enactivism ........................ 83 5.3.1. Von Uexküll: The Umwelt ................................................................... 83 5.3.2. Gibson: Ecological psychology and affordances.................................... 86 5.3.3. Noë: Sensorimotor enactivism .............................................................. 90 3 5.4. Perspective and object recognition .......................................................... 93 5.4.1. The dual aspect of perceptual content ................................................... 93 5.4.2. Perspectival properties .......................................................................... 95 5.4.3. The debate about perspectival shape ..................................................... 99 5.4.4. Experiments and findings .................................................................. 102 5.5. Closing comments on egocentricity and allocentricity ......................... 104 5.5.1. The dual nature of human perception................................................. 104 5.5.2. The prospect of piercing the soap bubble ............................................ 106 Block C: Enactivism and metaphysics ............................................. 109 6. The matrix: Representationalism and realism................................... 109 6.1. Where representationalism and realism meet ....................................... 109 6.1.1. Entering the realism debate ................................................................ 109 6.1.2. Defining ‘realism’ and ‘anti-realism’ ................................................. 111 6.2. The matrix ............................................................................................. 114 6.2.1. Connecting representationalism and realism ..................................... 114 6.2.2. The explicit and the tacit .................................................................... 118 6.3. Plotting the points ................................................................................. 120 6.3.1. Gibson ................................................................................................. 120 6.3.2. O’Regan and Noë ............................................................................... 123 6.3.3. Varela, Thompson and Rosch ............................................................. 128 6.3.4. Von Uexküll ....................................................................................... 132 6.3.5. Hutto and Myin ................................................................................. 134 6.3.6. Clark ................................................................................................... 137 7. Enactivism and realism: Assessed ....................................................... 141 7.1. Assessing the realism debate ................................................................. 141 7.1.1. In the spirit of symmetrical realism .................................................... 141 7.1.2. The egocentric profile .......................................................................... 143 7.2. Embodiment: The argument from biology ............................................ 145 4 7.2.1. Egocentricity and anti-realism ........................................................... 145 7.2.2. Egocentricity and realism ................................................................... 147 7.2.3. Circularity: Begging the question of realism ...................................... 151 7.2.4. Biological egocentricity: From the species to the individual .............. 153 7.3. Embeddedness: The argument from geometry ...................................... 155 7.3.1. Embeddedness and vantage points ..................................................... 155 7.3.2. Embeddedness: Externalism and extensive cognition ........................ 158 7.3.3. Embeddedness and anti-realism ......................................................... 160 7.3.4. Embeddedness and realism ................................................................. 162 7.4. Closing comments on metaphysical realism ......................................... 166 8. General conclusion ................................................................................. 169 8.1. The metaphysics of enactivism .............................................................. 169 8.1.1. Enactivism .........................................................................................
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