Pragmatic realism: towards a reconciliation of enactivism and realism.
Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences January 1, 2025 Catherine Legg, André Sant'Anna 4 citations
Philosophical tensions between realism and enactivism can be resolved through Charles Peirce's pragmatism. Enactivism's Mind-Life Continuity thesis has been interpreted as implying anti-realist 'world-construction', which some find controversial. A proposed 'entity realism' by Zahidi places subjects in worlds of things they can manipulate, but fails to sustain the realist claim that multiple subjects inhabit the same world—a claim crucial for scientific progress. Peirce's distinction between existence and reality, along with his inquiry-based account of cognition, generalizes Zahidi's manipulation-based realism into a richer, inquiry-based enactivist realism. This realism supports pan-species monism about truth, encouraging investigation of non-human animal cognition.