Mind in Nature: Enactivism as a Bridge between Transcendental Phenomenology and Aristotelian Naturalism
Hannes Gustav Melichar
Journal of Transcendental Philosophy May 8, 2026 DOI: 10.1515/jtph-2025-0031 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Naturalism Normative Metaphysics Enactivism Transcendental number Phenomenology philosophy Rationality Ontology Supervenience Epistemology Philosophy of science Philosophy of religion Moral realism Neurophenomenology Bridge graph theory Causation Deliberation Natural archaeology Transcendental idealism Philosophical anthropology Internalism and externalism |
| Key points | Argues that an Aristotelian metaphysics of life, with substantial form and formal causation, can ground a realist ontology of life–mind continuity that integrates rational normativity into nature without reduction or dualism. |
Abstract
Abstract This article examines how rational normativity can be integrated into nature without reduction or dualism. Drawing on Thomas Nagel’s critique of reductive naturalism and Husserl’s refutation of psychologism, it argues that adequate accounts of mind must respect the transcendental status of reason while also explaining how rational subjects belong to the natural world. The paper develops this problem through the philosophy of life, focusing on Hans Jonas’s conception of the organism and the enactive notion of operational closure. While enactivism offers a non-reductive, multi-level account of living organization, it remains metaphysically underdetermined. I argue that its core commitments are best understood within an Aristotelian metaphysics of life, in which substantial form and formal causation ground a realist ontology of life–mind continuity. This Aristotelian naturalism situates cognition and rationality within nature without eliminating their normative character, while phenomenological analysis remains indispensable for explicating the first-personal and normative dimensions of mind.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |