Daniel D. Hutto

Evolving Enactivism

Evolving Enactivism argues that cognitive phenomena—perceiving, imagining, remembering—can be best explained in terms of an interface between contentless, purely embodied and enactive, and culturally scaffolded, content-involving forms of cognition. Hutto and Myin demonstrate the unique explanatory advantages of recognizing that only some forms of cognition have content while others—the most elementary ones—do not. They offer an account of the mind in duplex terms, proposing a complex vision of mentality in which these basic contentless forms of cognition interact with content-involving ones. This book breaks new ground: It shows how how a radically enactive approach to mind be fruitfully allied with theories of cognition that appeal to predictive processing, autopoietic sense-making and ecological affordances. It further explicates the core idea of a contentless kind of Ur-intentionality and demonstrates how this form of intentionality can be understood in terms of biological proper functions, without introducing scientifically intractable mysteries into the mix. Answering critics, it explains how properly contentful minds can arise in a kinky way, through socio-culturally scaffolding, with out introducing breaks into nature. Most dramatically, Hutto and Myin offer a new vision of neurodynamics, defending and developing their signature view that the most basic forms of cognition do not, contrary to a currently popular account of cognition, involve picking up and processing information that is then used, reused, stored, and represented in the brain. Rather, basic cognition is contentless—fundamentally interactive, dynamic, and relational. In all, Hutto and Myin propose offer theoretical support for their revolutionary rethinking, emphasizing its capacity to explain basic minds in naturalistic terms. They demonstrate the explanatory power of the duplex vision of cognition, showing how it offers the right resources for understanding the multi-faceted, and otherwise puzzling, character of quintessential cognitive phenomena.

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Critical acclaim

“A growing paradigm, this theory is endorsed by an increasing number of cognitive science and neuroscience researchers …the authors present … a secure path for satisfactorily naturalizing every human cognitive capacity, leaving nothing to metaphysical mystery or scientific inscrutability”
- Choice

“an empirically informed and admirably clear explication ... a compelling vision of psychological evolution, with which anyone thinking about the emergence of the different varieties of mentality must reckon.”
- Helen Steward, Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Action, University of Leeds

"The next phase of this debate in the philosophy and sciences of cognition will be based on the substantial development of the view embodied in this book.”
- Paul E. Griffiths, Professor of Philosophy, University of Sydney

Radicalizing Enactivism

Most of what humans do and experience is best understood in terms of dynamically unfolding interactions with the environment. Many philosophers and cognitive scientists now acknowledge the critical importance of situated, environment-involving embodied engagements as a means of understanding basic minds—including basic forms of human mentality. Yet many of these same theorists hold fast to the view that basic minds are necessarily or essentially contentful—that they represent conditions the world might be in. In this book, Hutto and Myin promote the cause of a radically enactive, embodied approach to cognition that holds that some kinds of minds—basic minds—are neither best explained by processes involving the manipulation of contents nor inherently contentful. Hutto and Myin oppose the widely endorsed thesis that cognition always and everywhere involves content. They defend the counter-thesis that there can be intentionality and phenomenal experience without content, and demonstrate the advantages of their approach for thinking about scaffolded minds and consciousness

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• A Choice Outstanding Academic Title
• Honourable mention - 2013 PROSE Awards
• 519 citations (Google Scholar)

Critical acclaim

One of the most original contributions to the already vast literature in recent philosophy of mind ... a convincing positive theory ... No collection in modern philosophy of mind is complete without this ground breaking book.
- Choice

a great little book ... its implications are profound
- Minds and Brains

offers so much .. Anyone with even the slightest interest in theoretical cognitive science cannot ... ignore the issues raised herein
- Journal of Cognitive Computing

clarity of purpose makes Radicalizing Enactivism a uniquely effective anti-representationalist manifesto
- Language Sciences

a thorough and rigorous criticism of classical and contemporary analytical theories of content ... [shows] in a remarkable way, the plausibility and relevance of their approach.
- Intellectica

engages philosophers on both sides of the representationalist/anti-representationalist divide with well structured, compelling argument
- Philosophical Psychology

Provocative ... compelling ... provides a justification for enactivist radicalism.
- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

opens the door to a full new program of research within the cognitive sciences.
- The Philosophical Quarterly

a wonderful example how ‘research at the foundations' can be highly relevant 'at the surface’s many examples of daily practice
- InterAction

reshapes current philosophical thinking about embodied and extended cognition
- Evan Thompson, University of Toronto

a serious challenge to the status quo in the philosophy of mind
- Anthony Chemero, University of Cincinnati

a serious, painstaking, and genuinely hopeful book ... it identifies and methodically demolishes a key roadblock in the enactivist program.
- Shiny Pebble blog

Folk Psychological Narratives

Established wisdom in cognitive science holds that the everyday folk psychological abilities of humans—our capacity to understand intentional actions performed for reasons—are inherited from our evolutionary forebears. In Folk Psychological Narratives, Daniel Hutto challenges this view (held in somewhat different forms by the two dominant approaches, "theory theory" and simulation theory) and argues for the sociocultural basis of this familiar ability. He makes a detailed case for the idea that the way we make sense of intentional actions essentially involves the construction of narratives about particular persons. Moreover he argues that children acquire this practical skill only by being exposed to and engaging in a distinctive kind of narrative practice. Hutto calls this developmental proposal the narrative practice hypothesis (NPH). Its core claim is that direct encounters with stories about persons who act for reasons (that is, folk psychological narratives) supply children with both the basic structure of folk psychology and the norm-governed possibilities for wielding it in practice. In making a strong case for the as yet underexamined idea that our understanding of reasons may be socioculturally grounded, Hutto not only advances and explicates the claims of the NPH, but he also challenges certain widely held assumptions. In this way, Folk Psychological Narratives both clears conceptual space around the dominant approaches for an alternative and offers a groundbreaking proposal.

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• 515 citations (Google Scholar)

Critical acclaim

“Offers the field a promising basis from which to reorient itself”
- Science

“an instant classic in this important and relatively young field of study”
– Metapsychology

"changes the terms of this debate ... can be read as a proposal for a rewarding empirical research programme on the role of narratives in children’s understanding of action”
– Times Literary Supplement

"opens up new lines of empirical research ... should be read by all psychologists and philosophers interested in a theory of mind”
– Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“succeeds in telling a compelling developmental and evolutionary story that integrates the available empirical evidence from vastly different areas of research such as developmental psychology, comparative cognition, neuroscience, cognitive archaeology, and evolutionary psychology”
– Human Development

"brings long ignored assumptions to the surface, and persuasively undermines them ... the debate about human social cognition should forever be transformed in its wake.”
– Philosophical Investigations

“highly original and admirably wide ranging ... tackles head on the really hard questions about the role in mental life of symbolization, representation and rationality”
- Language and Cognition

“cogently argued, thoroughly documented and stylishly written ... suggests the potential for research on stories to bring together scholars from across the arts and sciences”
– Style

“the breadth and originality of its arguments makes it a key text for researchers interested in folk psychology”
– Philosophy in Review

“a fresh, timely, and thought-provoking... has succeeded admirably in laying out a comprehensive alternative to ‘theory of mind’ approaches”
– Peter Hobson, Tavistock Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, UCL

“an original and compelling contribution to debates about the human capacity to understand others”
– Ian Ravenscroft, Flinders University

Radical Enactivism. Focus on the Philosophy of Daniel D. Hutto

"This collection is a much-needed remedy to the confusion about which varieties of enactivism are robust yet viable rejections of traditional representationalism approaches to cognitivism – and which are not. Hutto's paper is the pivot around which the expert commentators, enactivists and non-enactivists alike, sketch out the implications of enactivism for a wide variety of issues: perception, emotion, the theory of content, cognition, development, social interaction, and more. The inclusion of thoughtful replies from Hutto gives the volume a further degree of depth and integration often lacking in collections of essays. Anyone interested in assessing the current cutting-edge developments in the embodied and situated sciences of the mind will want to read this book.”
- Ron Chrisley, University of Sussex, UK

Contains commentaries by and 6 article-length replies to: Tim Crane, Shaun Gallagher, Peter Goldie, Peter Hobson, Erik Myin and Lars De Nul, and Anthony Rudd.

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Critical acclaim

“stakes out new and exciting territory ... an enthralling exercise in constructive engagement ... takes the debate to a whole new level ... Essential reading.”
- Andy Clark, University of Edinburgh

“a marked contribution ... I recommend it.”
Alva Noë, University of Berkeley

“essential reading”
- Evan Thompson, University of British Colombia

“succeeds in steering this debate in new and interesting directions"
- Mark Rowlands, University of Miami

Wittgenstein and the End of Philosophy: Neither Theory Nor Therapy

What is the true worth of Wittgenstein's contribution to philosophy? Answers to this question are strongly divided. However, most assessments rest on certain popular misreadings of his purpose. This book challenges both "theoretical" and "therapeutic" interpretations. In their place, it seeks to establish that, from beginning to end, Wittgenstein regarded clarification as the true end of philosophy. It argues that, properly understood, his approach exemplifies rather than betrays critical philosophy and provides a viable alternative to other contemporary offerings. 1st edition (2003) sold out in 2005. Second, revised edition contains an additional chapter with replies to Read (PAS 2004, PI 2006) and Hutchinson and Read (IJPS 2006).

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Critical acclaim

...one of the more important contributions to Wittgenstein studies in recent years... a helpful corrective to various current readings of his work.
- John Koethe, Mind

... a much-needed repositioning of theory and therapy ... [picks] out the real implications of Wittgenstein's philosophy from its misleading look-alikes.
- Daniele Moyal-Sharrock, University of East Anglia, UK

... a rare combination of philosophical sweep and scholarly detail ... places Wittgenstein in a larger historical context that sheds light on the unique significance of this way of looking at the end of philosophy.
- Barry Curtis, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Hilo

an original and compelling interpretation that defends the continuity thesis ... remarkable for its mastery of the existing literature and its acuity in making sharp distinctions.
- Avrum Stroll, University of California, USA

tackles a problem that is central not just to the understanding of Wittgenstein but also to the self-understanding of our subject ... brings the issue to life through his extensive knowledge not just of Wittgenstein's work, but also of other reference-points ranging from transcendental idealism and Hegel's conception of logic to contemporary debates about the limits of conceptual analysis.
- Hans-Johann Glock, University of Reading, UK

mastery of the literature and contemporary debates is remarkable... moves with clarity and erudition ... will be of particular interest to philosophers who are trying to find points of convergence between analytic and Continental traditions
- Kevin A. Aho, The European Legacy