October 23, 2008 at 10:19 am (Presentations)
An extended abstract on some philosophical aspects of using the Enactive Torch has been accepted as a talk for this year’s Workshop on Engineering and Philosophy. The title of the talk will be:
Engineering Conceptual Change: The Enactive Torch
R. Chrisley, T. Froese & A. Spiers
For more information and to download the extended abstract please click here.
October 17, 2008 at 2:03 pm (Publications)
The final version of this paper is now available from the journal of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. The penultimate draft of this paper can be downloaded from here.
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Hume and the enactive approach to mind
Tom Froese
An important part of David Hume’s work is his attempt to put the natural sciences on a firmer foundation by introducing the scientific method into the study of human nature. This investigation resulted in a novel understanding of the mind, which in turn informed Hume’s critical evaluation of the scope and limits of the scientific method as such. However, while these latter reflections continue to influence today’s philosophy of science, his theory of mind is nowadays mainly of interest in terms of philosophical scholarship. This paper aims to show that, even though Hume‟s recognition in the cognitive sciences has so far been limited, there is an opportunity to reevaluate his work in the context of more recent scientific developments. In particular, it is argued that we can gain a better understanding of his overall philosophy by tracing the ongoing establishment of the enactive approach. In return, this novel interpretation of Hume’s “science of man” is used as the basis for a consideration of the current and future status of the cognitive sciences.
October 7, 2008 at 11:22 am (Publications)
The latest work with the Enactive Torch is now in press for this year’s Enactive Interfaces conference. A copy of the paper can be downloaded here.
Investigating the role of movement in the constitution of spatial perception using the Enactive Torch
L. Grespan, T. Froese, E. A. Di Paolo, A. K. Seth, A. Spiers and W. Bigge
This paper reports an exploratory study designed to clarify whether the Enactive Torch, a custom-built minimalist distance-to-tactile perceptual supplementation device, can be used to investigate the role of embodied action in the perception of external spatiality. By constraining the kind of exploratory movements available to the participants, we create an experimental setup in which it is possible to study the relationship between bodily degrees of freedom and spatial perception. We present a preliminary investigation of the strategies used by minimally trained participants to locate various objects placed in front of them by engaging in active exploration under constrained conditions.
