From enactive phenomenology to biosemiotic enactivism
Adaptive Behavior April 1, 2016 DOI: 10.1177/1059712316636437 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Citations | 32 |
| Key points | Proposes that integrating biosemiotics with autopoietic enactivism can yield a stronger theoretical framework—biosemiotic enactivism—for understanding cognition. |
Abstract
Autopoietic enactivism (AE) is a relatively young but increasingly influential approach within embodied cognitive science, which aims to offer a viable alternative framework to mainstream cognitivism. Similarly, in biology, the nascent field of biosemiotics has steadily been developing an increasingly influential alternative framework to mainstream biology. Despite sharing common objectives and clear theoretical overlap, there has to date been little to no exchange between the two fields. This paper takes this under-appreciated overlap as not only a much needed call to begin building bridges between the two areas but also as an opportunity to explore how AE could benefit from biosemiotics. As a first tentative step towards this end, the paper will draw from both fields to develop a novel synthesis – biosemiotic enactivism – which aims to clarify, develop and ultimately strengthen some key AE concepts. The paper has two main goals: (i) to propose a novel conception of cognition that could contribute to the ongoing theoretical developments of AE and (ii) to introduce some concepts and ideas from biosemiotics to the enactive community in order to stimulate further debate across the two fields.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Thinking through enactive agency: sense-making, bio-semiosis and the ontologies of organismic worlds Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences March 2, 2018
- Thinking embodiment with genetics: epigenetics and postgenomic biology in embodied cognition and enactivism Synthese June 18, 2020
- Dances with dogs: interspecies play and a case for sympoietic enactivism. Animal cognition March 1, 2021
- Gesture, meaning, and intentionality: from radical to pragmatist enactive theory of language Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences September 23, 2023
- Traces of thinking: a stigmergic approach to 4E cognition Synthese June 23, 2025
and 1 more in the library