Realism Redux: Gibson’s Affordances Get a Well-Deserved Update. Review of “Radical Embodied Cognitive Science” by Anthony Chemero

Ziemke, Tom

Tom Ziemke

Abstract

Upshot: Chemero provides a modern re-interpretation of Gibson’s ecological psychology and his affordance concept that is more coherent than the original and in line with antirepresentationalist, dynamical theories in embodied cognitive science. He argues for a radical embodied cognitive science, in which ecological and enactive approaches join forces against the more watered-down, mainstream embodied cognitive science that still maintains traditional commitments to representationalism and computationalism. He also defends a special version of realism, entity realism, which many constructivists might not find entirely convincing, but which is nevertheless more or less compatible with enactive theories of embodied cognition.

Citation

Ziemke T. (2011) Realism redux: Gibson’s affordances get a well-deserved update. Review of “radical embodied cognitive science” by anthony chemero. Constructivist Foundations 7(1): 87–89. http://constructivist.info/7/1/087

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