Normativity and the Origin of Mind

The project is a structured conversation between scientists and philosophers about the kind of normativity that is essential to mind and the minimal conditions for its emergence. The main question is: What is the most rudimentary form of normatively guided behavior and how is it realized? The project focuses on three approaches to this “normativity question”: enactive theory (EN), ecological psychology (EP), and teleodynamics (TD). The goal of the project is to clarify the normativity question and contribute to the development of these approaches by bringing them into close conversation with one another and with philosophical perspectives on normativity.

In the first year, five scientists—Terrence Deacon, Jonathan Delafield-Butt, James Dixon, Marek McGann, and Joanna Raczaszek-Leonardi—will present working papers that address the main question from perspectives informed by one or more of the three selected approaches (EN, EP, TD).

Then, in the second year, six philosophers—Pauline Phemister, Tina Röck, and Mog Stapleton, plus the three research team members (Miguel, Javier, and I)—will respond to these working papers from a variety of perspectives (phenomenological, Leibnizian, Whiteheadian, Aristotelian, etc.).

In the third and final year, participants will be invited to present a revised version of their working papers at a small conference to be organized here at the University of Navarre. The papers will then be submitted together for publication in a special issue (most likely Adaptive Behavior).

A structured science-philosophy bridgework project on the origins of mind. Funded by the Spanish Government.