On the importance of things : A relational approach to agency
(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:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/21f74dbe-60f7-4a14-9ae8-1a1b90cd6c3e
- author
- Mendoza-Collazos, Juan Carlos LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020
- 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}}, }