Mechanisms of skillful interaction: sensorimotor enactivism & mechanistic explanation
Philosophical Psychology February 14, 2024 Jonny Lee, B. Millar 2 citations
The mechanistic model of scientific explanation describes explanations as uncovering multi-level, organized components that make up a target phenomenon. Sensorimotor enactivism offers an account of perceptual experience as a skillful, interactive relationship between perceiver and world, not as an internal representation. While these two approaches could complement each other—mechanism explaining subpersonal components of the skillful interaction that enactivism identifies—two challenges arise. The representation challenge arises because implementing sensorimotor interaction seems to require cognitive representations, conflicting with enactivism's nonrepresentational stance. The reconstitution challenge occurs when mechanistic explanation redefines perceptual experience so its components become entirely organism-bound. The paper explores these tensions and possible solutions, clarifying the compatibility and learning opportunities between the two frameworks.