Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1032-9542
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Adaptive Behavior
Abstract
Proponents of enactivism should be interested in exploring what notion of action best captures the type of action–perception link that the view proposes, such that it covers all the aspects in which our doings constitute and are constituted by our perceiving. This article proposes and defends the thesis that the notion of sensorimotor dependencies is insufficient to account for the reality of human perception and that the central enactive notion should be that of perceptual practices. Sensorimotor enactivism is insufficient because it has no traction on socially dependent perceptions (SDPs), which are essential to the role and significance of perception in our lives. Since the social dimension is a central desideratum in a theory of human perception, enactivism needs a notion that accounts for such an aspect. This article sketches the main features of the Wittgenstein-inspired notion of perceptual practices as the central notion to understand perception. Perception, I claim, is properly understood as woven into a type of social practices that includes food, dance, dress, and music. More specifically, perceptual practices are the enactment of culturally structured, normatively rich techniques of commerce of meaningful multi- and intermodal perceptible material. I argue that perceptual practices explain three central features of SDP: attentional focus, aspects’ salience, and modal-specific harmony-like relations.
Pages
31-45
html
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318811897
Volume
27
Issue
1
Publication Date
2019
Keywords
enactivism, perception, practices, culture, intersubjectivity, pragmatism
Disciplines
Philosophy
ISSN
1741-2633
Recommended Citation
Arango, Alejandro, "From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices: Making Enactivism Social" (2019). Philosophy Faculty Scholarship. 38.
https://repository.gonzaga.edu/philosophyschol/38
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Comments
This version of the article has been accepted for publication but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at:
Arango A. From sensorimotor dependencies to perceptual practices: making enactivism social. Adaptive Behavior. 2019;27(1):31-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059712318811897.