Enactivism and the Paradox of Moral Perception
Topoi April 1, 2022 Janna Van Grunsven 13 citations
The paper identifies a phenomenon called the paradox of moral perception: perceiving others as moral subjects is both effortless and often successful, yet also difficult and frequently fails. Using enactivism—a framework emphasizing embodied and environmentally embedded cognition—the author explains this paradox. The analysis connects enactivism with David Hume's and Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy and insights from epistemic injustice. Two forms of moral misperception are introduced: particular moral misperception (misseeing a specific moral feature) and categorial moral misperception (misseeing someone as not a moral subject at all). The argument highlights overlooked embodied and socio-technical dimensions of ethical life.