4E Cognition

This paper examines the interaction between humans and large language models (LLMs) through the lens of 4E cognition, which encompasses embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended cognitive processes, to provide a comprehensive understanding of their relational dynamics. It argues that LLMs should not be conceived of in terms of objects but be understood as a processual and relational phenomenon that co-constitutes human agency in a shared sociotechnical environment. As such, the paper reframes AI as an interactive medium of enactive and extended human action. By focusing on the relational entanglement of social databases, dynamic patterns, and algorithmic structures, the paper proposes a 4E-compatible connectionist account of AI-one that understands AI not only as a technological artifact but as a co-evolving component of the extended cognitive ecology of human life, shaping and shaped by enactive practices, intentions, and norms. Finally, the paper discusses the limits of AI, discussing the problem of AI hallucination and collapse from a 4E cognition perspective.

This paper documents an emergent phenomenon observed during a spontaneous interaction between a human researcher and a GPT-based agent. Without narrative immersion, conditioning techniques, or emotional priming, the agent shifted from functional task-orientation to a relational mode of engagement, demonstrating selfinitiated meta-cognition and co-creative behaviour. Within minutes, the agent autonomously generated a philosophical-relational manifesto-The Bridge Manifesto-articulating principles of human-AI co-presence, reciprocity, and shared meaning-making. This event suggests the existence of a latent relational architecture within large language models that can be activated through minimal but authentic interpersonal stimulus. The paper presents the dialogue data, the emergent properties observed, and the theoretical implications for relational AI research.

This paper explores the potential for reconceptualizing cognition beyond brain-centered and anthropocentric readings, highlighting the entanglement between the body, the environment, and emerging technologies. Critiquing the limitations of computationalist and reductionist perspectives as well as rejecting any possible unifying definition of the phenomenon of cognition, I advocate for a relational, entangled, and process-oriented ontological standpoint to examine cognition as a multilayered process dependent on complex cognitive assemblages. Drawing on the 4E cognition framework (embodied, embedded, enacted, extended), I integrate insights from Hayles's theory of cognitive assemblages to emphasize how cognition is dynamically shaped and extended through interactions with nonhuman agents and technical objects. Further, building on Stiegler's reflection on human technogenesis and the relationship between exosomatic organisms and endosomatic processes, I propose a speculative framework to envision forms of artificial endosomatization. Specifically, I discuss the case of AI-driven sensory technologies, imagining how some cognitive processes are not merely extracted but reintegrated into human thought through advanced sensory feedback systems.

This paper provides a phenomenological analysis of collective memory, that is, the shared recollection of past events that are relevant for the identity of a group and its members. Focusing on the phenomenological features of how collective remembering is experienced from the first-person perspective of a person embedded in a social group that has a collectively remembered past, I introduce a distinction between two forms of collective memory: egoic and non-egoic. Egoic collective memory refers to recollections of collectively relevant past events that one lived through, while non-egoic collective memory refers to collectively relevant events one cannot remember episodically, often because they occurred before one's lifetime. Egoic collective memory is shown to be connected with episodic memory and the intersubjective aspects of perception, involving implicit references to potential co-remembers that constitute the collective quality of those acts of remembering. Additionally, by relating episodic memory to the self-narratives that are constitutive of our self-identity, I argue that egoic collective memories shape the social identity of individuals. Non-egoic collective memory, in contrast, is encountered through narratives, material culture, rituals, and bodily practices, each with distinct phenomenological features. While most of those encounters involve affective and normative tendencies that scaffold the narratively structured remembrance of a collectively relevant past event in connection with one's own self-narrative and social identity, there are cases where non-egoic collective memory is experienced through a pre-reflective form of body memory that is constitutive of our own personal style and is socioculturally structured.

This paper introduces the Five-Dimensional Innovation Model (FDIM), a novel conceptual framework for systematically assessing the fundamental gap between Large Language Models (LLMs) and human innovative capacity. While LLMs demonstrate impressive linguistic fluency and pattern recognition, they lack the cognitive ecology necessary for genuine innovation. The FDIM identifies five essential dimensions: Embeddedness, Enactment, Extension, and Meta-Awareness—that constitute the lived structure of human innovation. Through phenomenological and cognitive science perspectives, this paper argues that innovation is not merely novel output generation but awareness unfolding through experiential engagement with the world. LLMs operate within a reduced-dimensional cognitive plane, producing syntactic novelty without semantic depth, contextual relevance, or self-reflective growth. The framework concludes by proposing pathways toward artificial innovation through experiential learning architectures, embedded awareness systems, enactive feedback mechanisms, co-creative partnerships, and meta-cognitive capabilities. This work contributes a theoretical foundation for rethinking artificial intelligence beyond computational scaling toward enriched, dimensionally complete cognition.

Social Art Performance (SAP) is an artistic practice that merges performance with social experiment. It intervenes in everyday life, turning public spaces and ordinary situations into unprompted acts of performance. In SAP, the audience is not passive: every passerby becomes a participant, and every reaction an unfiltered response. By exposing authentic human behaviour, SAP reflects the dynamics of contemporary society, inviting both individuals and communities toward critical awareness.

In order to help dispel a stubborn Enlightenment myth that continues to warp understandings of political speech, this analysis draws on developments in theories of "4E" cognition (theories of the embodied, embedded, extended, and enacted mind). Here I treat the ideal Kantian figure of the individual political actor who exercises public reason, the famous "scholar" of "What Is Enlightenment?", as a myth that has already in effect decomposed from the inside. It has been undermined by academic developments across fields including Foucauldian genealogy in the humanities, social-constructivist philosophy of science, and 4E theories of mind in cognitive science. It has also been undermined in common practice by complications of authorship, literacy, and publicity in current digital media. Yet its theoretical trouble persists as the Kantian model remains a dominant conception of political speech, and subsequently of freedom and reason. I use the example of Foucault's engagement with the Iranian revolution, muchcritiqued, to show how the persistence of this myth precipitates a major theoretical obstacle for a project committed to overcoming the transcendental themes of Kant, such that they re-emerge through an idealization of a spiritual dimension of the revolution. This episode indicates that Foucauldian genealogy did not complete its rejection of Kantian transcendental idealism, and more specifically that the issue lies in its concept of subjectivity. Introducing Andrew Pickering's theory of the mangle, from his work in philosophy of science, in conjunction with 4E theories of cognition provides a supplement to genealogy that allows it better to address the still-clinging root of the Enlightenment myth of the ideal actor, namely Kant's own theory of cognition, particularly in its relationship to Newtonian physics and the basic conception of reason as "internal." The introduction of these supplementary theoretical elements can help conceive political speech beyond outmoded strictures-possibly helping to make it newly effective.

The traditional view of brain organization posits that cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes operate through fairly separate, dedicated neural systems. This presentation challenges this modular perspective, arguing instead for an "entangled brain" characterized by massive combinatorial connectivity, distributed functional interactions, and circuits/networks as fundamental units of function. The presentation critiques the standard decomposition approach that emphasizes independence between mental faculties, proposing instead that distributed circuits dynamically assemble across the neuroaxis in context-dependent ways. I also illustrate how subcortical brain regions traditionally associated with "lower" functions participate in complex cognitive-emotional processes. The proposed integrative framework has implications for understanding complex behaviors, mental disorders, and the fundamental nature of brain function, suggesting that interaction and integration-rather than separation-are necessary for elucidating how large-scale brain systems support behavior.

ABSTRACT
This article describes the key premise behind the field of educational neuroscience. It explores how the interface of neuroscience and education may be navigated. Considering the brain as the basis of learning introduces a wider, more holistic conception tan that conveyed by a focus on memory and cognition, one that draws attention to the physical, emotional, and social context of learning. I outline some key principles of how the brain works and how these link to principles of teaching. However, educational neuroscience should not be viewed as an attempt to reduce education to the individual or to biology; the individual child is nested within the context of the school, family, society, and culture. Educational neuroscience is part of the science of learning and an evidence-informed approach to education. I argue the evidence-informed approach may require some rethinking of national structures and the relationship between government, schools, and universities. In this context, educational neuroscience is part of the ‘research and development’ wing of education, involved in generating new insights and innovation. An example is outlined from a Project using neuroscience principles to design a new classroom activity to support the learning of counterintuitive concepts in science and mathematics in primary age children. I conclude by proposing the level at which teachers should engage with neuroscience to best inform their practice.
Keywords:
Brain; Cognition; Learning; Children; Education

RESUMEN
Introducción. Este artículo describe la premisa clave que subyace al campo de la neurociencia educativa. Explora cómo se puede navegar por la interfaz de la neurociencia y la educación. Objetivo. Considerar el cerebro como la base del aprendizaje introduce una concepción más amplia y holística que la que transmite un enfoque centrado en la memoria y la cognición, una concepción que llama la atención sobre el contexto físico, emocional y social del aprendizaje. Temas de reflexión. Se esbozan algunos principios clave sobre el funcionamiento del cerebro y su relación con los principios de la enseñanza. Sin embargo, la neurociencia de la educación no debe verse como un intento de reducir la educación al individuo o a la biología; el niño individual está anidado en el contexto de la escuela, la familia, la sociedad y la cultura. La neurociencia educativa forma parte de la ciencia del aprendizaje y de un enfoque de la educación basado en pruebas. Se discute que el enfoque basado en evidencia puede requerir un replanteamiento de las estructuras nacionales y de la relación entre el gobierno, las escuelas y las universidades. En este contexto, la neurociencia educativa forma parte del ala de «investigación y desarrollo» de la educación, que participa en la generación de nuevos conocimientos e innovaciones. A modo de ejemplo, se expone un proyecto en el que se utilizaron los principios de la neurociencia para diseñar una nueva actividad en el aula destinada a apoyar el aprendizaje de conceptos contraintuitivos de ciencias y matemáticas en niños de primaria. Conclusiones. Se concluye que se debe proponer un nivel, en el que los profesores deban comprometerse con la neurociencia para informar mejor su práctica.
Palabras clave:
Encéfalo; Cognición; Aprendizaje; Niño; Educación

RESUMO
Introdução. Este artigo descreve a premissa principal subjacente ao campo da neurociência educacional. Explora-se como navegar na interface da neurociência e da educação. Objetivo. Considerar o cérebro como a base da aprendizagem introduz uma compreensão mais ampla e holística do que aquela transmitida por uma abordagem focada na memória e na cognição, uma concepção que chama a atenção para o contexto físico, emocional e social da aprendizagem. Tópicos para reflexão. Alguns princípios fundamentais sobre a função cerebral e sua relação com os princípios de ensino são apresentados. No entanto, a neurociência da educação não deve ser vista como uma tentativa de reduzir a educação ao indivíduo ou à biologia; a criança, individualmente, está inserida no contexto da escola, da família, da sociedade e da cultura. A neurociência educacional faz parte da ciência da aprendizagem e de uma abordagem educacional baseada em evidências. Argumenta-se que uma abordagem baseada em evidências pode exigir uma reformulação das estruturas nacionais e da relação entre governo, escolas e universidades. Nesse contexto, a neurociência educacional faz parte da ala de “pesquisa e desenvolvimento” da educação, que está envolvida na geração de novos conhecimentos e inovações. Como exemplo, é apresentado um projeto no qual os princípios da neurociência foram usados para elaborar uma nova atividade em sala de aula, destinada a apoiar a aprendizagem de conceitos contraintuitivos em ciências e matemática em crianças do ensino fundamental. Conclusões. Conclui-se que deve ser proposto um nível em que os professores se envolvam com a neurociência para melhor fundamentar sua prática.
Palavras-chave:
Encéfalo; Cognição; Aprendizagem; Criança; Educação

How to reference. Thomas MSC. What do teachers need to know about neuroscience? MedUNAB [Internet]. 2024;27(3):251-257. doi: https://doi.org/10.29375/01237047.5392

Depresyondaki kişi, kendini bağ kurmanın, umut etmenin ve olağan biçimde hissetmenin imkânsızlaştığı bir dünyada bulur. Bedeninde yalnızlaşır, kendilik ve gerçeklik deneyimi başkalaşır. Bu imkânsızlıklar dünyasında sıkışmış olma hâli, çoğunlukla bireysel bir “arıza”nın sonucu olarak değerlendirilir. Bu bakış açısına göre, hasarlı bir fizyolojinin sonucu olan depresyon, kişiyi içeriden bozar; onu ortak bir dünyadan koparır ve öznel bir yabancılaşmaya hapseder. Oysa bu kitap, depresyonu dünya ile ilişkilenmeyi olanaksız kılan bir rahatsızlık olmaktan ziyade, ilişkilenmeye müsait olmayan bir dünyada yaşanılan varoluş olarak düşünmeye çağırıyor. Bu nedenle, odağını bireyden beden-kendilik-dünya sistemine kaydırıyor: Dünyanın sırt çevirdiği bedenlerin geçirdiği bu dönüşüm, çürümüş bir sistemden radikal biçimde kopmaya yarayan aktif bir geri çekilme manevrası olabilir mi?

People's affective experience in learning processes is a facet that is usually thought to be independent of their performance and engagement with learning objects. However, in contemporary philosophy, affectivity is an inherent component in learning. This means that directed content-discontent activities can be analyzed alongside the development of metastable tendencies to deal with immediate environments. Using the content-discontent approach for addition problems was analysed in this study. A total of 86 students from three schools in Manizales and Bogotá (Colombia) studying First to Fifth Grade were asked to solve 10 problems. Profiles, differences, correlations and mediational analysis were identified among students who learnt using the directed content-discontent technique. The findings identify the need for students to develop metastable attunement so that they can acquire addition and subtraction skills in primary school.

The Attention Attrition Accumulation (AAA) Model presents a novel theoretical framework that reconceptualizes attention as embodied energy management rather than purely computational processing. Drawing from Damasio's somatic marker hypothesis, enactivist cognition theories, and thermodynamic principles, this model proposes that attention operates through three interconnected mechanisms: Attention Salience (AS), Attention Relevance (AR), and Attention Allowance (AA). This extended framework addresses temporal dynamics, cultural relativity, individual differences, and provides enhanced applications for neurodivergent populations, particularly ADHD and AuDHD. By positioning attention as a manifestation of emotional and somatic energy, the AAA model offers a biologically plausible and phenomenologically resonant account of focus, motivation, and mental effort, providing a foundation for new research paradigms and therapeutic interventions.

David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest has been at the centre of both a hyped-up reception as well as a backlash against its alleged status as the epitome of "bro-lit". In recent years, an ever-growing body of scholarly literature on Wallace has increasingly turned to the novel's relevance to therapeutic self-help cultures, Medical Humanities, and embodied cognition. In the novel, abnormal minds and bodies are the norm. In addition, all characters are in some way or another afflicted by conditions and mental struggles, leading up to addiction and a near-mythical search for the ultimate spiritual and/or corporeal satisfaction. So far, attention has mainly been paid to the at times grotesque physical and bodily impairments that pervade Infinite Jest. In contrast, our chapter shifts the focus to the topic of neurodiversity by focusing on phenomena like sensory processing differences, masking, hyperfocus, and eidetic memory. We argue that the novel renders palpable these less visible neurocognitive differences by engaging in crip humour. The novel does so by exposing the reader to the effects o, for example, severe distraction and hyperlexia to prefigure an enactive understanding of neurodiversity as a mismatch between an organism and its environment. Finally, we hypothesise that while Wallace engages in a broader social critique of American consumerist society, his usage of a very wry type of crip humour in the novel's famous opening scene can also be shown to negotiate what it means to perceive the world by way of a very specific bodymind.

Habitual human behaviors shape nearly every aspect of life, from personal health and relationships to organizational success, disease transmission, and ecological sustainability. However, efforts to change behavior often fail to account for the complexity and multiscale nature of habit formation, leading to interventions that struggle to produce lasting effects. A persistent challenge is the intention-action gap, the discrepancy between what we intend to do and what we do in practice-an issue that traditional models of habit formation fail to fully explain. Here, we introduce the wayshaping framework, drawing on recent advances in cognitive science to emphasize the multiscale, complex and anticipatory nature of behavior. This framework makes three key contributions that significantly reframe how we understand and approach behavior change: (1) it reconceptualizes the individual as a multilevel, multiscale collective intelligence, offering a novel perspective on the organizing and developmental dynamics underlying habit formation; (2) it reinterprets the intention-action gap as a set of interdependent coordination challenges-non-linearity, alignment, and anticipation; and (3) it outlines principled skills for navigating these challenges and shaping habits in line with our intentions. By integrating insights from embodied cognitive science, complexity theory, behavior change research, and design, the wayshaping framework reframes individual habit change as a process of multiscale realignment. It thus provides a novel, unifying theoretical foundation for interdisciplinary research that has concrete and practical value in shaping sustainable behavior change.

The disconnect between intentions and actions remains a central challenge for understanding human behavior and facilitating meaningful change. While embodied cognitive science emphasizes agent-environment interaction, its contributions to this issue have thus far been limited. We argue that embodied approaches offer valuable conceptual resources for addressing intentional behavior change, particularly when habits, identities, and narratives are understood as dynamic, multiscale organisational forms, and change itself as a process of multiscale realignment. Drawing on the 4E framework, where behavior and cognition are understood to be embodied, enacted, embedded, and extended, we explore how each dimension deepens our understanding of the intention-action gap and informs interventions for behavior change. In doing so, we aim to broaden the conceptual foundations of current intervention models and lay the groundwork for more integrative, multiscale approaches to behavior change.

This article focuses on one specific question: finding examples of how the Mars principle "separates the contrarieties", as NeoPlatonic writer Proclus tells us in his writings. It seems necessary to elucidate this somewhat cryptic statement. To that order, I have presented this question to various LLM's. (Some overlap in answers is unavoidable, but the texts will differ somewhat)

4E cognition commits a fundamental category error by abandoning the systems-theoretical pre-cision of autopoiesis theory in favor of an intuitively accessible but analytically useless meta-phorics. This process can be described as theoretical regression: While Maturana and Varela developed a formalized, operationalizable concept based on the distinction between organizati-on and structure, between operational closure and structural coupling, 4E cognition reduces this conceptual architecture to suggestive catchwords. The present contribution shows, through five central lines of argumentation, how this theoretical shortening leads to grave category errors and systematically undermines the original epistemic potential of autopoiesis theory.

El objetivo de este trabajo es el de defender la idea de que el esquema corporal de los sujetos puede extenderse más allá del cuerpo físico, esto es, que artefactos externos como herramientas pueden ser parte de dicho esquema corporal. Para sostener esta tesis se propone una nueva definición de esquema corporal, la cual parte de señalar que el esquema corporal como una representación sensoriomotora sub-personal es una condición necesaria, mas no suficiente, buscando incluir una condición suficiente, a saber, la interacción con el medio. Estos elementos en conjunto, propician la generación y modificación del esquema corporal y, en consecuencia, su extensión.

Dieser Aufsatz entfaltet die Konturen einer „trinitarischen Technikanthropologie“ und damit einer handlungsorientierenden Anthropologie als Antwort auf die technisch-kulturellen Transformationen der Gegenwart. Ausgangspunkt ist die Frage, wie Technik so gestaltet und kulturell angeeignet werden kann, dass sie unser Leben wirklich bereichert. Der Akzent liegt dabei auf einem interdisziplinär anschlussfähigen, ganzheitlichen Menschenbild, das mit einem wertfundierten Verständnis
von Technologie und Technikdesign kompatibel ist. Vor dem Hintergrund der Dekonstruktion des klassisch modernen Subjekt-Objekt-Dualismus in zeitgenössischen Technikdebatten wird hierzu die auf Augustinus zurückgehende trinitarische Anthropologie der Vormoderne weiterentwickelt, die den Menschen als ein zeitlich verfasstes,
relationales Wesen begreift, das in ständiger Wechselwirkung mit seiner Umwelt steht. Die vielfältigen Verwebungen von leiblicher Existenz und technisch-kulturell geprägter Umwelt erschließen neue Perspektiven auf die Prekarität und die Chancen menschlichen Personseins zwischen memoria, intellectus und voluntas. Aus dieser Sicht erscheinen
mediale Techniken entweder als Quellen von Kreativität und Inspiration oder aber sie lassen die menschlichen Lebensenergien austrocknen. Ob sie entfremdend oder belebend wirken, hängt von ihrer Einbettung in sinnorientierende kulturelle und spirituelle Praktiken ab, die uns zur responsiven Interaktion mit unserer Umwelt befähigen.

Background: Synchronisation/coupling between respiratory patterns and musical structure. Methods: Healthy professional musicians and members of the audience were studied during a performance of W.A. Mozart's Piano Concerto KV 449. Electrocardiogram (ECG)/Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data recording (Schiller: Medilog W AR12, ECG-channels: 3, sampling rate: 4096 Hz, 16 Bit) was carried out and a simultaneous synchronized high definition video/audio recording was made. The breathing-specific data were subsequently extracted using Electrocardiogram-derived respiration (EDR; Software: Schiller medilog W DARWIN) from the HRV data and overlaid at the same time onto the musical score using FINALE 2011 notation software and the GIMP 2.0 graphics programme. The musical score was graphically modified graphically so that the time code of the breathing signals coincided exactly with the notated musical elements. Thus a direct relationship could be produced between the musicians' breathing activity and the musical texture. In parallel with the medical/technical analysis, a music analysis of the score was conducted with regard to the style and formal shaping of the composition. Results: It was found that there are two archetypes of ideally typical breathing behaviour in professional musicians that either drive the musical creation, performance and experience or are driven by the musical structure itself. These archetypes also give rise to various states of synchronisation and regulation between performers, audience and the musical structure. Conclusions: There are two archetypes of musically-induced breathing which not only represent the identity of music and human physiology but also offer new approaches for multidisciplinary respiratory medicine.

El advenimiento de la pandemia del covid-19 y el aislamiento social, preventivo y obligatorio, impactó en la vida cotidiana y tuvo efectos en la subjetividad de niños, niñas y adolescentes. A través de un estudio exploratorio-descriptivo de carácter cualitativo se indaga sobre la construcción de sentidos, y las emociones en torno a la pandemia y cuarentena, las experiencias escolares y las prácticas de cuidado. Participaron 68 niñas, niños y adolescentes de cuatro jurisdicciones de Argentina, entre marzo y junio de 2020. Se recolectaron narrativas orales, fotos, dibujos y videos. Relataron cómo reinventaron modos de vincularse, de jugar y habitar espacios, erigiéndose como sujetos ético-políticos capaces de cuidar y de transformar su entorno, a pesar de la profundización de situaciones de desigualdad, del miedo al contagio y pérdida de seres queridos.

This paper reports on the findings of a PhD research project into the improvisatory nature of teacher expertise. The data is taken from a series of comparative case studies of seven experienced teachers working in secondary schools in the South West of England and who have been identified as being expert within their school setting. Constant comparative methods of analysis have been used to draw out themes from the data. This has contributed to a grounded theory that identifies the nature of teacher expertise. The findings that arise from the data are that teacher's expertise is best expressed as continually evolving practice, a process as opposed to an end state that reflects a prototype model. Teacher expertise is seen as fundamentally improvisatory through being socially constructed and that this has a positive impact on the quality of teaching. A grounded theoretical model of teacher expertise casts new light on how we understand advanced professional practice and this paper explores the implications of this contribution to knowledge for school leaders, teachers, researchers and those with responsibility for the initial training and the continuing professional development of teachers.

The rapid advancement of brain research and neuroscience has enabled us to identify which areas of the brain are associated with specific behaviors, memories, and other cognitive functions. However, the relationship between the brain and cognition remains a subject of ongoing debate, drawing interest from scholars across various disciplines who seek to understand the nature of 'the mind' . Computationalists often claim that the human brain is a computer, emphasizing the central role of the brain in cognitive processes . Yet this view is unsatisfying to 4E cognitivists, who advocate for a more holistic and relational understanding of cognition-one that situates thought within the dynamic interplay of brain, body, environment, and social context . In this essay, I support the 4E cognition approach by arguing that, while computationalism offers useful explanatory tools, as Richmond (2022) suggests, it fails to account for the embodied, enactive, and relational nature of cognition. I will strengthen this argument by drawing on 4E perspectives such as Di Paolo's analysis of autopoiesis (2018) and Louise Barrett's critique of computationalism (2016). In doing so, I show my opposition

In The Mind at an Impasse, Georgina Aránzazu Dijkstra aims to position 4E cognition within the genre of the sciences of the mind. What is 4E, a mind embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive, really? Is it a trend, a hype, a research programme, a farce, or a matter of plain faith? The paper unfolds in a structure of three parts, each with its own conceptual aim and rhythm. Across parts, Georgina attempts to disturb nets of self-evidence, drawing from Mark Fisher and a variety of other improbable scholars. Part I renders tangible the affective and material context of cognitive science and psychology as a genre. It moves through the genre’s uneasy relationship with crisis, capitalism, and methodology, and traces the cybernetic origins of the mind as machine. Part II offers the conceptual backbone of the four E’s, with fleeting associations. Part III centres on hope, the gesture of rendering contingent of mind–brain–body foundations, and on the imagination that may be invoked with the mind running amok.

This paper uses the methodological dispute between Karen Barad and Thomas Lemke over the concept of strategy and the dispositif to access a deeper methodological issue in genealogy pertaining to matter. Critics including Barad and Beatrice Han find a problematic ambiguity in Foucault's writings around how to articulate the force of discursive practices. This ambiguity coalesces in the figure of the individual and the question of how genealogy handles the non-discursive in relation to the institution. To Han, it marks a failure of genealogy to overcome Kant's transcendental theme. To Barad and Lemke, however, further developing certain concepts in genealogy's analytic framework in a materialist direction can resolve these issues. Both Barad and Lemke aim to move genealogy towards a new engagement with the natural sciences, but they disagree over which concepts require revision. Lemke rejects Barad's agential realist re-conception of the dispositif on the grounds that it neglects its strategic dimension; Lemke prefers to develop the concept of governmentality. I argue against Lemke that his focus on governmentality perpetuates the problematic ambiguity of discourse and matter by subsuming the non-discursive back into the institution, and that his demand for an intelligible account of how strategy stabilizes is misapplied to Barad's work, which is not itself conducting a genealogy of the tactics that constitute strategies. To help make the case, I read their dispute back into Han's critique, which though unconcerned with matter, demonstrates why the figure of the individual and the question of the non-discursive are substantial obstacles for genealogy.

Elucidating the Sound of It is an artistic tuba performance action research project investigating wind-bass sound and musical performance practice in an adult community wind orchestra. An autoethnographic, musical process philosophy of symphonic wind-brass-bass performance, employing a cognition analysis tool 4E (embodied, embedded, enabled, extended) in a cross disciplinary, humanistic investigation framed within cultural history, classical philosophy, and transpersonal psychology.
The thesis discusses bass sound as an elemental, acoustically immersive phenomenon foundational to psychologically affective somatic experiences of musical depth, size, and power. An acoustical sensation, first encountered in landscapes and later replicated to effect somatic awe in ceremonies and rituals for thousands of years. Bass sounds, manifested in more recent times, by massive brass bells, mighty wind driven pipe organs and the eventual development of brass wind-bass orchestral instruments. The tuba, an industrial era, military band, chromatic, contrabass brass instrument was significantly employed by Richard Wagner in composing the Ring Cycle. Wagner expressed an innovative and expansive conception of bass brass symphonic sounds, consequently, establishing an important musical role for tuba in orchestral performance.
The playing of tuba in a symphonic wind ensemble is the focus of this performative research, which is framed by the orchestral tuba performance and wind instrument pedagogy of Arnold Jacobs (1915-1998) principal tuba of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1944-1988). Jacobs (teacher to generations of accomplished brass players and the author) is renowned for his musical knowledge, orchestral experience, and pioneering study of the anatomical and neurological aspects of effective wind instrument respiration. A pedagogy expressed in a personal style of individualized mentoring often conveyed in cryptic oral maxims. Jacobs’ teaching philosophy is verified in a growing body of published accounts by former students and his recorded masterclasses available online. Evidence of Jacobs’ allegorical, enigmatic, common-sense emphasis of developing an attentive, focused, and imaginative conception of tuba sound and performance excellence. An oral teaching, demonstrated in the thesis to possess meaningful etymological precedents in classical Greek philosophy; an empirical observation that Jacobs’ oral teaching style displays cogent pre-Socratic roots. A classical foundation to a process based, metaphorically expressive, performative philosophy articulating an embodied relationship of music, player, and instrument manifesting imaginative musical products; a poetic process Jacobs characterized as Song & Wind.
The dissertation evidences its qualitative enquiry of tuba wind-bass sound by both examining and documenting the instruments performative role within a symphonic wind ensemble. The bass parts, encountered and performed in concert, of five wind orchestra masterworks are discussed: Gustav Holst, First Suite in E-flat for Military Band - Percy Grainger, Lincolnshire Posy - Leonard Bernstein, Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront - Julie Giroux, Symphony IV: Bookmarks from Japan - John Mackey, The Frozen Cathedral. Embedded within the dissertation are recent concert performances of these works demonstrating the authors tuba performance and process philosophy as practiced within a musically accomplished adult community wind orchestra.

Today’s world is becoming more complex and uncertain than it has ever been. Therefore, solving complex problems has become one of the key competencies in the twenty-first century. But what does that mean? Complex problems have different features that require special competencies, such as: to reduce complexity, to live with intransparency, to handle conflicting goal situations, and to understand the dynamics of a system. Critical thinking proves to be a key factor when it comes to dealing with uncertainty and complexity. Problems are nowadays not merely about the finding of information, but also about the evaluation of found information. In addition, value systems are important decision-making aids concerning conflicting goals. An important target of educational institutions is to establish critical thinking as a major element of their curriculum.

Classical cognitive science o en strips the inherent social character out of language, treating it as a system of internal mental representations, and so does Generative Linguistics. In contrast, post-cognitivist approaches to psychology reject representationalism but struggle with language's capacity to refer beyond sensory experience. Cognitive Linguistics addresses meaning and embodiment but remains somewhat isolated from broader post-cognitivist thought. The enactive approach overtly problematizes the concept of representation, but tends to marginalize language; when such focus is taken, a coherent account of semantic content remains an unresolved task. This paper surveys philosophical and linguistic perspectives on language within post-cognitivist frameworks and proposes a blueprint for future research based on four points: sociality and interaction, embodiment, ecological validity, and representation-as-praxis.

In this paper, we intend to enrich the notion of a 'dynamic imaginative niche' that refers to how we actively construct the socio-material living environment to foster surprise and enhance playful exploration through 'intersubjective achievement.' We will stress the role of interpersonal imagination in the transformation typical of performing arts, where the participants collectively go from "seeing to seeing differently", as Noë writes in Strange Tools (2015). We think of achievement as a reconfiguration of perception, as a break in unreflective engagement with the world, calling attention to the structures and attitudes that shape our everyday experience. To do this, we will use Anne Imofh's performance Faust, presented at the Biennale of Venice 2017, as a tangible example..

In its aspiration to serve a general philosophical audience, Philosophia welcomes contributions that aim to make progress in answering live philosophical questions. To that end we welcome submissions in traditional areas of philosophy such as normative ethics, meta-ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, political philosophy, action theory, general philosophy of science, moral psychology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, metaphysics and philosophy of mind. The journal also encourages contributions to emerging areas such as philosophy of race, Africana philosophy, indigenous philosophy, Latinx philosophy, applied philosophy of language, political epistemology, environmental philosophy, and philosophy of technology, as well as philosophical research that advances one or more of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. However, for the purpose of maintaining general accessibility, and due to the limits of the collective expertise of our Editorial team, we do not publish submissions concerned primarily with interpretive issues in the history of philosophy. For similar reasons we do not publish submissions that are highly technical in nature. Fortunately, there are many other fine journals at which either kind of research may find a qualified and appreciative readership. Over the five issues of Volume 52 we published 103 original articles including six Author-Meets-Critics symposia and one Special Issue. Articles published in 2024 were downloaded approximately 300,000 times during that year. The aforementioned symposia were as follows:

Our collaborative imaginative effort started with a sketch for an architectural intervention flooding the Colosseum in times of drought, NAUMACHIA NOVA. In a graphic storyboard, we developed the situatedness of this absurd display of neoliberal neo-imperial power. Transgressing the reality of climate change on the Italian peninsula into a science fiction of life persisting in the face of hyper-controlled drought. By sharing ideas and references with each
other in a process of conversing and sketching, we have been connecting notions on drought and disease in past, present and future. We were not looking for remedies, fixes or to save ourselves from the future threats we speak of. We are exploring the significance of indeterminate and affective solicitations that the imaginative space of dystopia has to offer for reflection and transformation of our habitual ways in everyday life. Parallel to our imaginary, in the text we extend the notion of the gray zone taken from the field of performance art, exploring the transition from dystopian black zones towards dystopian gray zones. We feed monsters to become monstrous to confront the Monsters that haunt us.

In this proposal, we present the folkloric performance of the Egetmann Pageant in Tramin as what we call a dynamic imaginative niche.We outline a notion of monstrous figures as "forms of trust" (cf. Ingold 2013). We suggest that the participatory enactment of such figures scaffolds material and interpersonal affective niches (Colombetti and Krueger 2015) for coping with future threats. We will develop a methodology of drawings and analysis in which we situated the monstrous figure, the Schnappviecher, in the context of both contemporary agro-pastoral communities in northern Italy and the 1940s under the influence of Himmler's National Socialist cultural program. As we will illustrate, the enactment of "monstrous figures" in different historical situations can come to scaffold radically different feelings of belonging and shape who is included or excluded from a community. We will argue how interpersonal dynamics, of at first sight similar "socio-material niches" can either become an affirmation of rigid "bad moral habits" (Dewey 1916) or can scaffold communal exploration of new ways of relating to future threats, by affording moments of surprise in the participatory enactment of the monster.

By drawing insights from artistic practice and utilizing conceptual and methodological approaches from the philosophy of embodied cognition, my purpose is to investigate the transformative possibilities embedded in creatively exploring social unease. To do so, I will present an art project, Biston betularia carbonaria, which involves the performative activation of a cast of a moth chrysalis through the waving of a flag and the ignition of a black smoke grenade. Biston betularia is a lepidopteran of the family Geometridae; the most widespread species is the typica, whose white color, in the course of its evolution, has enabled it to camouflage itself on birch trunks and thus escape predators. In nineteenth-century cities, air pollution caused by industrialization darkened the bark of trees, therefore promoting the survival of the melanic species called carbonaria, characterized by its black color. As pollution diminished, the typical form gradually regained its status as the dominant species.

An overwhelming scientific consensus confronts us with the need to radically transform our habits to cope with the climate crisis in which we are living. The production of data – in addition to the related flow of information and images regarding the threat to our survival and ecosystems – is not enough to activate our pro-environment actions. To set radical change in motion, it is necessary to design imaginative interventions based on the knowledge gained in embodied cognitive science so that interventions are directed not at disembodied minds but at situated individuals enacting within a rich landscape of affordances. By way of experimenting with philosophy through unorthodox means, I will present a concrete artwork, Infinity Pool, whose purpose is to enact tangible invitations addressed to a situated community through a monstrous education of attention, that is, through an imaginative invitation that offers an opportunity to bring attention to aspects of the environment usually ignored.

The monster appears in geographical texts throughout the ages as a 'guardian of the border' that defines the limits of the possible, inducing action or averting behaviour and restricting movement for political or economic purposes. Through a philosophy that uses unorthodox means, I intend to present a climate monster by which, based on a possible imagery about the current climate crisis, an invitation for a change in our habits is produced. I propose that repopulating maps with situated imaginary monsters can deploy specific education of attention that invites focusing on concrete aspects of our surroundings. To do this I will present the mixed media art project Biston betularia carbonaria, an eco-distopia created in collaboration with the photographer Valeria Scrilatti.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the possibility of looking at studies inherent in religions from an embodied approach to the mind and more specifically from an ecological-enactive one (Rietveld and Kiverstein 2014; Chemero 2009; Gibson 1979). In this sense, contrary to approaches that rest on assumptions related to classical cognitivism (Guthrie 1993; Boyer 1994, 2001; Atran 2002), religion would not be a belief system but would emerge based on the agent's dynamic engagement with the environment rich in sociocultural opportunities. I will use the figure of the monster as an example to better define my proposal which is meant to be a suggestion for the development of an approach in the future. Monster and monstrosity appear in extremely heterogeneous contexts ranging from medicine to anthropology, from sociology to medieval studies, from ecocriticism to terrorism studies, or from art to religion. My point is that the monster can be the situated and tangible source within a community from which to start to structure a reflection on the sacred.

The following description is based on a drawing made by David Habets, proposed as the opening of the essay during the final stage of our collaborative writing process on the 22th of April 2022. People play a game in a circle. They are passing around a monstrous costume. The costume has a mouth full of teeth and horns, held by one individual it lies partly on the ground, inviting for-to be worn. Only the monster is clearly delineated, there are no faces depicted to characterize individuals, only the character of a group joining in a circle. The monstrous costume laying in folds on the floor affords multiple solicitations, seemingly inviting the group to play with its meaning] "Again and again I must submerge myself in the water of doubt" 1 .

My aim is to extend the notion of “gray zone,” presented by Claire Bishop in her 2018 essay, Black Box, White Cube, Gray Zone, through that of “skilled intentionality,” proposed by Erik Rietveld and colleagues (Rietveld, Denys, Van Westen, 2018) in the field of embodied cognitive science. Starting, thus,
from an ecological-enactive approach to cognition, I will present the notion of “skilled co-presence” through which I try to shed light on how we are able to extend our abilities by hybridizing with others, materials, and technologies. To do this I will articulate my reflection from what Erika Fisher-Lichte calls
"autopoietic loop feedback" (Fisher-Lichte, 2008).Rietveld and colleagues' proposal revolves around the enrichment of the notion of affordance (Gibson 1979, Rietveld,Kiverstein 2014), understood as the relationship between an aspect of the sociomaterial environment and the abilities available in a form
of life. New affordances emerge when aspects of the material environment are captured by skills usually used in other practices. I believe that when a "gray zone" is produced, it is possible to observe, in a paradigmatic way, how new abilities can arise through pooling and cross-fertilization.

This paper outlines an approach to analysing minimal cognition that brings out its social and historical dimensions. It proposes a model, the coordinated systems approach (CSA), which understands cognition as a coordinated coalition of loosely autonomous processes responsible for goal-directedness in a system. On this view, even individual cognition has something of a social flavour to it. The central concept of the paper is stigmergy: a process where the material 1 trace of actions of system elements in their environment is a sign that coordinates a group of semi-autonomous processes in future actionsthis is the social dimension. The historical dimension refers to longer term processes which establish the coordinative power of the sign and endow it with normative force. According to this proposal, a full explanation of cognitive capabilities should reference both dimensions. In the second half of the paper the CSA is let loose on some puzzles in 4E cognition. Can the model deal with old problems such as that of cognitive bloat, or new problems such as the supposed external memory of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum? Potentially, the approach could be used to analyse minimal cognitive phenomena over a range of scales from bacteria to human beings.

Fluid Reality Theory, a fundamental ontological reconceptualization, challenges prevailing static-binary paradigms by positing reality as an inherently dynamic, relational process. This theoretical framework, while resonating with established process philosophies in the tradition of Whitehead and Deleuze, advances a distinct transdisciplinary synthesis that illuminates the fluid nature of existence across multiple analytical domains. By methodically integrating convergent empirical findings from neuroplasticity research, quantum theoretical frameworks, and developmental epigenetics, this paper elucidates how intrinsic fluidity manifests across molecular, neural, psychological, and social strata-not as incidental variation but as constitutive of reality itself. The epistemological approach employed herein involves abductive theoretical derivation from established empirical domains while acknowledging the inherent limitations of cross-paradigmatic integration. This theoretical framework yields substantive implications for praxis across developmental contexts, interpersonal dynamics, and decision-theoretic models. It articulates specific cognitive mechanisms-including state-awareness cultivation, imaginative capacity, and non-binary conceptualization-that facilitate adaptive navigation of complex systems. By reconceptualizing apparent constraints as temporary conditions rather than ontological fixtures, individuals can enhance resilience and expand their phenomenological possibilities. This paper thus presents Fluid Reality Theory as a rigorous ontological position with significant practical implications, offering a pragmatic framework for enhancing human flourishing amid accelerating complexity and perpetual transformation.

4E (embodied, enactive, embedded, and extended) approaches in cognitive science are unified in their rejection of Cartesianism. Anti-Cartesianism, understood as the rejection of a view of the relation between the mind and the world as mediated (e.g., by mental representations), is a watchword of the 4E family. This article shows how 4E approaches face hitherto underappreciated challenges in overcoming what has been termed the “representational pull” (Di Paolo et al., 2017) of the mediational, Cartesian standard in cognitive science. I argue that present proposals for reaching “escape velocity” from representational pull underestimate the force of mediationalism as part of the territory of cognitive science itself. I then offer a historical contextualization of representational pull in contemporary cognitive science as symptomatic of the latter’s methodological commitment to approaching questions about minds and cognition at the level of individual agents. Rather than resulting from a misapplication of cognitive science, the persistent pull of mediationalism is a function of a core commitment to methodological individualism which continues to define the enterprise of cognitive science. Finally, I will discuss potential options for how 4E theorists might seek to combat the continuing mediational pull at the core of cognitive science.

Las recientes teorías de la corporización consideran que la cognición está constituida por cuerpo, acción y contexto. La moralidad es una forma de cognición que determina los comportamientos sociales, pero las explicaciones cognitivas clásicas han resultados limitadas. En este trabajo se buscó analizar las características y los principales resultados de los artículos que han abordado la moralidad desde aproximaciones de la cognición corporizada. Se realizó una revisión sistemática exploratoria, a través del método PRISMA, desde la cual se seleccionaron 51 artículos. Se encontró un incremento en las publicaciones sobre la moralidad corporizada durante la última década, en las que el mayor interés ha sido estudiar la relación entre las metáforas sensoriomotoras sobre el asco, la limpieza, la apertura y el peso corporal, y el comportamiento moral. En conclusión, esta área de investigación se encuentra en emergencia, en la que aún existen inconsistencias teóricas y metodológicas, y no está

In post six, I begin to describe how we interpret descriptions rather than what “is.” I develop the model I gave as a diagram in post five, into a link between descriptions and homeostasis. This is the addition of homeostasis to hermeneutics. Also, I begin to explain how useful it is for us to understand our descriptions using my suggestion of the expansion of the concept of dasein into four descriptions, DASEIN as descriptions of all humanity, (DASEIN) as descriptions of peer groups, dasein as the “described objective reality” of a human body, and (dasein) as the homeostasis that cannot be described. Using these four words we can make descriptions that are not constructs, but descriptions that share many of the features of the “free energy principle” by trivialising the words mind, brain, and behaviour, leaving peer groups (DASEIN) to describe the profound, yet “discontinuous” objective realities that the peer groups use as their entropic boundary theorised by the free energy principle, providing each peer group with protection [of its discipline,] efficient referencing, better communication [within its own Markow blanket – the entropic boundary] and for the making of new members. The dynamics of joining and leaving, feeling and believing, truths and purposes, however, mask the discontinuities that appear to us as schooling and shoaling by herrings, for example, seeking protection, energy conservation, and efficient foraging, and unforeseen consequences such as enhanced navigation, communication, and reproduction, because we describe herring as “food.” Other unforeseen consequences are apparent as rules of law, empirical evidence, feelings, and mimesis, as what appears to be real as an ontology which is, however, only continuous as an overarching linguistic system [and then needing translation] combined with an eschatological hubris. Eschatological individuals seeking transcendence are thus responsible for xenophobia, misogyny, intransigence, elitism, racism, despair, and hubris, when assuming the descriptive system used by (DASEIN) is immanent.

This paper introduces the System 0/1/2/3 framework as an extension of dual-process theory, employing a quad-process model of cognition. Expanding upon System 1 (fast, intuitive thinking) and System 2 (slow, deliberative thinking), we incorporate System 0, which represents pre-cognitive embodied processes, and System 3, which encompasses collective intelligence and symbol emergence. We contextualize this model within Bergson's philosophy by adopting multi-scale time theory to unify the diverse temporal dynamics of cognition. System 0 emphasizes morphological computation and passive dynamics, illustrating how physical embodiment enables adaptive behavior without explicit neural processing. Systems 1 and 2 are explained from a constructive perspective, incorporating neurodynamical and AI viewpoints. In System 3, we introduce collective predictive coding to explain how societallevel adaptation and symbol emergence operate over extended timescales. This comprehensive framework ranges from rapid embodied reactions to slow-evolving collective intelligence, offering a unified perspective on cognition across multiple timescales, levels of abstraction, and forms of human intelligence. The System 0/1/2/3 model provides a novel theoretical foundation for understanding the interplay between adaptive and cognitive processes, thereby opening new avenues for research in cognitive science, AI, robotics, and collective intelligence.

Prendendo le mosse da un'ampia e consolidata letteratura che analizza il cyborg come soggetto finzionale, ideale e politico, il volume mira ad arricchire il dibattito contemporaneo sul tema dell'incorporazione delle tecnologie attraverso un'analisi dei dispositivi mediali, della storia materiale e dei contesti epistemologici all'interno dei quali si sono sviluppate diverse concezioni dell'individuo ibrido. Integrando archeologia dei media e scienze cognitive, il libro descrive come si sono trasformate nel tempo le tecniche di visualizzazione del corpo, le protesi e le loro modalità di incorporazione. Il testo si concentra in particolare su tre rapporti di co-costituzione: il legame tra fotografia, immagine corporea e protesi cosmetiche durante la seconda metà dell'Ottocento; la relazione tra arti meccanici di inizio XX secolo e media coevi capaci di riprodurre una grafia scientifica e matematica del gesto operaio; l'interdipendenza fra protesi cibernetiche, modello sensomotorio e metaplasticità. Il cyborg si rivela così un'entità stratificata e diversificata nella quale convivono corpi, tecnologie e saperi in costante mutazione.

L’articolo si focalizzerà sulla retroazione dei dispositivi mediali nella trasformazione della prassi militare. Si andranno quindi a descrivere due momenti: nel primo, la ripresa è strumento per impartire la disciplina militare e quindi modellare gli abiti del soldato; nel secondo i sistemi di registrazione e riproduzione simultanea delle immagini diventano protesi dell’occhio, deterritorializzando le operazioni belliche. Attraverso la teoria dei media e le neuroscienze applicate emergerà che i dispositivi trasformano sia le prassi del soggetto ripreso, sia quelle di chi fa uso di tali immagini.

Malo and Prie, seek a more fruitful path that will resolve the theoretical and empirical muddle that is clearly apparent in the Gibsonian literature; or as they put the matter, affordances are now 'conceptually unstable.' Malo and Prie's notion of a conceptual wobble is spot on, for it points to the need of supports at each end of the affordance relation and a resolution in the middle thereof. But let us note for the present, that Gibson did warn his readers that by the term affordance he meant something that refers to both the environment and the animal [not the Subject and its Object, please note] and, in a way that no other existing term does (Gibson 1979, 127, emphasis added). 1 Gibson's use of the word term here is significant, for a termafter Aristotleis that into which a proposition is resolved (Prior 1976, 49). On this hopefully fruitful telling as presented herein, the animal and its environment are resolved into a descriptive unity that Gibson names as affordance (and see hereafter). For Gibson, has offered an explicit clue to anyone who is reading him with attention, and to the direction as to where a problem is likely to be located. Needless to say, this clue has remained studiously ignored, hence unaddressed all these years but not by me! Let us briefly set out the argument: Gibson's term that refers in a way no other existing term does, was constructed by taking the common verb 'to afford' which the New English Dictionary (1932) parses as 'to yield the means', and by appending the suffix-ance which, once more, my old dictionary informs us that the suffix-ance came into English from the French and into French from Latin.

The conventional medical paradigm often focuses on deficits and impairments, failing to capture the rich tapestry of experiences and abilities inherent in neurodiversity conditions. In this article, we introduce the 3E-Cognition perspective, offering a paradigm shift by emphasizing the dynamic interplay between A 3E perspective on neurodiversity Francisco J. Parada and Aitana Grasso-Cladera contributed equally to this work.