Publication
Title
Social and enactive perspectives on pretending
Author
Abstract
This paper presents pretending as an enacted and fundamentally social activity. First, it demonstrates why we should think of pretense as inherently social. Then, it shows how that fact affects our theory in terms of what is needed in order to pretend. Standardly, pretense is seen as requiring a mechanism that allows one to bypass the "obvious" response to the environment in order to opt for a symbolic response; that mechanism is imaginative and representational. This paper shows that the Enactive Account of Pretense reconsiders the idea that one needs to respond to an absent environment when pretending, proposing instead that socially constituted perceptual affordances for play allow for non -obvious ways of responding to the present environment. The enactive account of pretense suggests that one need not posit special cognitive pretense mechanisms and mental scripts in order to account for pretending, as available capacities for active perception and re-enactment of routines suffice. This paper concludes with suggestions for the kinds of cognitive skills that should be sought out to explain pretense.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Avant : Journal of Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard
Publication
2019
ISSN
2082-7598
2082-6710
DOI
10.26913/AVANT.2019.03.15
Volume/pages
10 :3 (2019) , 27 p.
ISI
000546783900022
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Publication type
Subject
Art 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 20.08.2020
Last edited 22.08.2024
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