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Body, Brain, and Situation in Sensorimotor Enactivism

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Body, Brain, and Situation in Sensorimotor Enactivism Body, Brain, and Situation in Sensorimotor Enactivism María Jimena Clavel Vázquez This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of St Andrews August 2020 Candidate's declaration I, María Jimena Clavel Vázquez, do hereby certify that this thesis, submitted for the degree of PhD, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for any degree. I was admitted as a research student at the University of St Andrews in September 2016. I received funding from an organisation or institution and have acknowledged the funder(s) in the full text of my thesis. October 15, 2020 Date Signature of candidate Supervisor's declaration I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. October 15, 2020 Date Signature of supervisor Permission for publication In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand, unless exempt by an award of an embargo as requested below, that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and I supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that this thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use and that the library has the right to migrate this thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I, María Jimena Clavel Vázquez, confirm that my thesis does not contain any third-party material that requires copyright clearance. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: Printed copy No embargo on print copy. Electronic copy No embargo on electronic copy. October 15, 2020 Date Signature of candidate October 15, 2020 Date Signature of supervisor II Underpinning Research Data or Digital Outputs Candidate's declaration I, María Jimena Clavel Vázquez, hereby certify that no requirements to deposit original research data or digital outputs apply to this thesis and that, where appropriate, secondary data used have been referenced in the full text of my thesis. October 15, 2020 Date Signature of candidate III Abstract This thesis tackles issues that arise around Sensorimotor Enactivism’s (SMEn) conception of embodiment. SMEn is a theory that claims that perception is something perceivers do, that requires the possession and execution of practical knowledge about the way sensory information changes after an interaction. One of the key commitments of this view is to the idea that this knowledge— sensorimotor knowledge—depends on details of the body of the perceiver. The thesis is divided in four parts, each addressing different challenges. Part I sets the stage for the problems that are discussed in the rest of the thesis. I examine SMEn’s claims that perception is active and knowledgeable, as well as its position regarding representations and externalism. In Part II, I discuss the concern that SMEn is chauvinistic in that it claims that only creatures with bodies like ours can have experiences like ours. I argue that SMEn cannot be said to be chauvinistic because, even if its embodiment claim involves a commitment to an irreducibly perspectival aspect of perceptual experience, Sensorimotor Contingencies (SMCs) are structural descriptions of perceptual systems that already involve information about objects’ invariant features. In Part III, I defend a predictive approach to SMEn to address the concern that, while it claims that perception is embodied, it leaves out one crucial element of the material basis of perceptual experience: the brain. Although the predictive framework is standardly taken to involve a representational and internalist profile, I argue in favour of the compatibility between SMEn and the Free Energy Approach (FEA). Part IV addresses a concern that is based on the phenomenological analysis of the body, according to which the body is marked by someone’s social and historical circumstances. I argue that the predictive version of SMEn makes plausible the idea that perceptual experience is social all the way down. IV Para Godi y para Rosita. V General acknowledgements Several sections throughout the thesis, in particular in chapters 1, 2, 5, and 6, are taken word for word from the paper “A match made in heaven: predictive approaches to (an unorthodox) sensorimotor enactivism” (Clavel Vázquez, 2019), published in open access online in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. This paper is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, modification, and reproduction in any medium of the material, provided that appropriate acknowledgement is given to the original work and publication source, and that a link to and notice of the license are included, indicating too if changes were made. A copy of the Creative Commons license can be found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Although most of the text in question has been left untouched, in some cases I have made modifications to adjust the arguments and writing to reflect the position defended in the thesis, as well as to reflect changes in the debate. For the phenomenological analysis that appears in Chapters 7 and 8, as well as for the conclusion, I have occasionally drawn on the manuscript “Embodying Imagination” co-authored with Adriana Clavel-Vázquez, currently under review. Funding This work was supported by Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT) under PhD scholarship 295962/440722; by a SASP (St Andrews and Stirling Philosophy Graduate Programme) Maintenance Studentship; and by Mexico’s Secretariat of Education (SEP, Secretaría de Educación Pública). VI Acknowledgements This thesis and research project would not have been possible without the continuous support, invaluable advice, and encouragement from Prof Michael Wheeler. His work and feedback have shaped my philosophical path. He has truly been the ideal supervisor. I also want to thank the incredible support and feedback from Dr Alisa Mandrigin. Her careful reading and discussion were essential to the development of many important arguments in this thesis. I want to thank Andrés Hernández for our long, fun, and relentless philosophical discussions. For his invaluable feedback, for always listening to me with unending patience, helping me figure out what it is that I want to say. Thanks for all the encouragement, support, and love, without which I would not have been able to complete this thesis. Thanks for sharing with me this incredible adventure. Thanks to Adriana Clavel-Vázquez for sharing her passion for philosophy with me, and for the privilege of being her colleague. This thesis would not have been possible without her incessant support, encouragement, and incredible feedback. Thank you for believing in me. Thanks to Ígor Clavel Herrera for all the love and support, and for always being there. Thanks to Tadzio Clavel Herrera for all his love and encouragement, and for cheering for me. Thanks to César Palacios-González for the support, guidance, and invaluable advice. Thanks to my family, los Vázquez, los Clavel, los Hernández Villarreal, for caring for me. And to little Leonora, Octavio, José Pablo, Santi, Diego, and Oli for sharing with me all their joy and curiosity. I also want to thank my incredible friends, who keep cheering for me, Fabiola Vallin, Paulina Guendulain, Sebastián Perlín, Guillermo Ruz, Anna Domínguez, Leonardo García, Maricarmen Garcés. Thanks to the St Andrews and Stirling Philosophy Graduate Programme, to the Stirling Philosophy department, and to the St Andrews Philosophy department. This incredibly lively community has enriched and given shape to my research. Thanks to Dr Derek Ball, Dr Simon Prosser, and Dr VII Colin Johnston for their invaluable feedback on my research. Thanks to Dr Philip Ebert for his incredible support. Thanks to Prof Katherine Hawley, Dr Alison Kerr, Prof Sarah Broadie, Dr Justin Snedegar, Dr Alex Douglas, Dr Walter Pedriali, Prof James Harris, Lucie Randal, Audrey Horsburgh, Virginia Respinger, and Claire Exley for their support, particularly, in projects related to our Minorities and Philosophy chapter. I also want to thank Dr Ezequiel Di Paolo and the IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind and Society, of the Universidad del País Vasco, for allowing me to spend a couple of weeks with them and benefiting from their incredible feedback. Thanks to all my philosophy friends: Paolo Savino, Lisa Bâstian, Quan Nguyen, Clotilde Torregrossa, Eline Gerritsen, Camille Fouché, Deb Marber, Lorenzo Lazzarini, Ashley Watkins, Saranga Sudarshan, Miguel Egler, Katharina Bernhard, Ethan Landes, Sophia Rommel, Jakob Hinze, Savvas Ioannou, Amr Salih, Paul Conlan, Indrek Lobus, Moritz Baron, Ásgeir Matthiason, Deryn Thomas, Matt Clark, Lara Jost, Emilia Wilson, Nick Allen, James Skinner, Lixiao Lin, Joe Bowen, and Ravi Thakral. Thanks to Xintong Wei for the friendship, the incredible conversations, and for her support. It was great sharing this experience with her. Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank Rosa Adriana Vázquez Gómez, my mother, for her unending love and encouragement. For pushing me to be better, for being supportive, and for always listening with joy when I talk about philosophy. Thanks for always believing in me, for having an understanding ear and the kindest and wisest words.
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