Enactivism and Normativity The Case of Aesthetic Gestures
JoLMA December 9, 2020 Anna Boncompagni 2 citations
Enactivist theories hold that cognition emerges from the dynamic interaction between an organism and its environment. A key challenge is explaining normativity—how standards of correctness arise—without reducing it to mere biology. This article reviews several proposed solutions, such as agent-environment dynamics and participatory sense-making, and argues that gestures of appreciation or disapproval in aesthetic contexts provide clear examples of enacted normativity. The author suggests that ideas from Wittgenstein and Dewey can be fruitfully developed within an enactive framework to address this challenge.