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On the importance of things : A relational approach to agency

Mendoza-Collazos, Juan Carlos LU orcid (2020) In Cognitive Semiotics 13(2).
Abstract
The present review is conceived to be a contribution from the double perspective of a semiotician and a designer to the current debate on the extended mind and on distributed cognition, focusing on the role of things (artefacts, material culture) for the emergence of agency in animate beings. The theory of material engagement as conceived by Lambros Malafouris was formally introduced seven years ago, proposing an idea of boundless cognition and reformulating key notions such as agency, intentionality, and mental representations, philosophically framed with the help of approaches such as postphenomenology (; ). There is much to commend about a non-hierarchical, interdependent relationship between the world and living organisms — and more... (More)
The present review is conceived to be a contribution from the double perspective of a semiotician and a designer to the current debate on the extended mind and on distributed cognition, focusing on the role of things (artefacts, material culture) for the emergence of agency in animate beings. The theory of material engagement as conceived by Lambros Malafouris was formally introduced seven years ago, proposing an idea of boundless cognition and reformulating key notions such as agency, intentionality, and mental representations, philosophically framed with the help of approaches such as postphenomenology (; ). There is much to commend about a non-hierarchical, interdependent relationship between the world and living organisms — and more specifically between material things and human beings. Nevertheless, a balanced review of the notion of “material agency” is still called for. In this review, I show that an asymmetry can be introduced into the relationship between artefacts and human beings without committing the “sin” of anthropocentrism. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
material agency, artefacts, agency, agentive semiotics, design semiotics, design theory
in
Cognitive Semiotics
volume
13
issue
2
publisher
De Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:85120756380
ISSN
2235-2066
DOI
10.1515/cogsem-2020-2034
project
The role of artefacts in relation to agency
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Reviewed Works: How things shape the mind: A theory of material engagement by Malafouris, L. (2013), Cambridge: MIT Pres.
id
21f74dbe-60f7-4a14-9ae8-1a1b90cd6c3e
date added to LUP
2020-12-07 16:17:09
date last changed
2024-02-01 10:28:50
@misc{21f74dbe-60f7-4a14-9ae8-1a1b90cd6c3e,
  abstract     = {{The present review is conceived to be a contribution from the double perspective of a semiotician and a designer to the current debate on the extended mind and on distributed cognition, focusing on the role of things (artefacts, material culture) for the emergence of agency in animate beings. The theory of material engagement as conceived by Lambros Malafouris was formally introduced seven years ago, proposing an idea of boundless cognition and reformulating key notions such as agency, intentionality, and mental representations, philosophically framed with the help of approaches such as postphenomenology (; ). There is much to commend about a non-hierarchical, interdependent relationship between the world and living organisms — and more specifically between material things and human beings. Nevertheless, a balanced review of the notion of “material agency” is still called for. In this review, I show that an asymmetry can be introduced into the relationship between artefacts and human beings without committing the “sin” of anthropocentrism.}},
  author       = {{Mendoza-Collazos, Juan Carlos}},
  issn         = {{2235-2066}},
  keywords     = {{material agency; artefacts; agency; agentive semiotics; design semiotics; design theory}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Review}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Cognitive Semiotics}},
  title        = {{On the importance of things : A relational approach to agency}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/cogsem-2020-2034}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/cogsem-2020-2034}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}