Enactivism and the New Teleology: Reconciling the Warring Camps
Enactivism and the New Teleology: Reconciling the Warring Camps

Summary/Abstract: Enactivism has the potential to provide a sense of teleology in purpose-directed action, but without violating the principles of efficient causation. Action can be distinguished from mere reaction by virtue of the fact that some systems are self-organizing. Self-organization in the brain is reflected in neu-ral plasticity, and also in the primacy of motivational processes that initiate the release of neurotransmitters necessary for mental and conscious func-tions, and which guide selective attention processes. But in order to flesh out the enactivist approach in a way that is plausible and not merely an epiphe-nomenon, it is necessary to confront the problem of causal closure in a serious way. Atoms and molecules in the brain do not violate the normal causal prin-ciples that govern them in other contexts. The theory of self-organizing dy-namical systems must be developed in a way that is compatible with causal closure rather than contradicting it.

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