Transformative embodied cognition
January 1, 2025 Dave Ward, Ward, Dave
Accounts of embodied cognition often treat rational capacities as a separate layer added on top of sensorimotor skills, a view called 'additivism.' This paper argues instead for a 'transformative' conception of rationality, where acquiring the ability to give and ask for reasons fundamentally changes the normative structure of unreflective embodied engagements with the environment. Drawing on Matthew Boyle's contrast between additive and transformative views, the author contends that a transformative embodied cognitive science of human rationality is already emerging, integrating insights from embodied cognition with research on cultural and developmental contexts to show how immersion in culture makes the meanings we are attuned to communicable and negotiable.