Agentes humanos, ficciones y homúnculos: En defensa de un enfoque no homuncular de la agencia

María Ayelén Sánchez

doi:10.24310/Metyper.2017.v0i18.4735

Authors

María Ayelén Sánchez National University of the South Argentina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24310/Metyper.2017.v0i18.4735

Keywords:

Agency, homunculus, executive control, normativism.

Abstract

The general topic of this paper is human agency. Specifically, I will address a problem related to the agent ?s ontological status: the problem of the homunculus. First, I will expose the general argument against the postulation of homunculus and the difficulties faced by it. Secondly, I will present a critical analysis of this argument, which will be focused on the link between the concept of “homunculus” and the concept of “agency”. The general hypothesis that I will defend is that there are ways to recognize the existence of the agency in which such recognition doesn ?t imply an ontological commitment to a homuncular unit included in the person. Finally, I will expose the bases of the normativist approach, which allows to think of a non-homuncular concept of agent.

Downloads

Metrics

Visualizaciones del PDF

573

| |

References

ANDRÉS, P.: “Frontal cortex as the central executive of working memory: time”; en Cortex, Vol. 39, 2003, pp. 871-895.

BARGH J. & FERGUSON, M.: “Beyond Behaviorism: On the Automaticity of Higher Mental Processes”; en Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 126, No. 6, 2000, pp. 925-945.

BARKLEY, R. A.: “Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD”; en Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 121, 1997, pp. 65-94.

BRANDOM, R.: Making it Explicit. EE.UU: Harvard University Press, 1994.

BRANDOM, R.: Reason in Philosophy: Animating Ideas. Harvard University: Belknap Press, 2009

BROCKI, K.: “Executive Control Processes: Dimensions, Development and ADHD”; en Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Social Sciences 27, Uppsala Universitet, 2007.

DENKLA, M. B.:“A theory and model of executive function. A neuropsychological perspective”; en Attention, memory, and executive function, G. R. Lyon & N. A. Krasnegor (Eds.), pp. 263–278, Baltimore: Brookes, 1996.

DENNETT, D.: La conciencia explicada, Buenos Aires: Paidós, 1995.

ESLINGER & DAMASIO: “Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablation: patient EVR”; en Neurology, Vol. 35(12), pp.1731-41, 1985.

FRIEDMAN, N. P., MIYAKE, A., CORLEY, R. P., YOUNG, S. E., DEFRIES, J.C., & HEWITT, J. K.: “Not all executive functions are related to intelligence”; en Psychological Science, Vol. 17, pp. 172 – 179, 2006.

GALLAGHER, S.: “Ambiguity in the sense of agency”; en Decomposing the Will. Oxford, J. Kiverstein and T. Vierkant (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2011.

GAZZANIGA, M.: Who is in charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain. New York: Ecco, 2011.

KRIPKE, S.: Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language: an Elementary Exposition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1982.

LURIA, A. R.: Higher Cortical Functions. New York: Basic Books, 1966.

SHALLICE, T.: From Neuropsychology to mental structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

MARCEL, A.: “The sense of agency: Awareness and ownership of action”; en Agency and Self-Awareness: Issues in Philosophy and Psychology, Johannes Roessler & Naomi Eilan (eds.), Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 48-93, 2003.

MCDOWELL, J.: Mind and World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

MIYAKE, A., FRIEDMAN, N. P., EMERSON, M. J., WITZKI, A., HOWETER, A., & WAGER, T. D.: “The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis”; en Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 41, pp. 49-100, 2000.

NEISSER, U.: Cognitive Psychology. Psychology Press Classic Editions, 1967.

NIDA-RÜMELIN, M.: “Doings and Subject Causation”; en A. Newen, V. Hoffmann, M. Esfeld (eds.), “Mental Causation, Externalism, and Self-Knowledge,” Special Issue of Erkenntnis 67(2), pp. 147-372, 2006.

NICHOLS, S.: “Mindreading and the Philosophy of Mind”; en The Oxford Handbook on Philosophy of Psychology, J. Prinz (ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, (forthcoming).

NIGG, J. T.: What Causes ADHD? Understanding what goes wrong and why. New York: The Guildford Press, 2006.

PRINZ, W.: Open Minds: The social making of agency and intentionality. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2012.

RAZ, J.: “Explaining Normativity: on Rationality and the Justification of Reason”; en Ratio (new series, XII 4, pp. 354-379, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.

SELLARS, W. “Empiricism and the philosophy of mind”; en Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. I, H. Feigl & M. Scriven (eds.), pp. 253–329, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1963.

SHALLICE, T., FLETCHER, P., FRITH, C. D., GRASBY, P., FRACKOWIAK, R. S. J., & DOLAN, R. J.: “Brain regions associated with acquisition and retrieval of verbal episodic memory”; en Nature, Vol. 36, 363-365, 1994.

SHIMAMURA, A. P.: “Memory and frontal function”; En The Cognitive Neurosciences, M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed), pp. 803-814, 1995.

WEGNER, D.: “Who is the controller in the controlled process?”; en The New Unconscious, HASSIN, R. R., ULEMAN, J. S. & BARGH, J.A. (Eds.), pp. 19-37, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005

WEGNER, D.: “Self is magic”; en Are we free? Psychology and free will, Baer J, Kaufman JC, Baumeister (Eds.), pp. 226-247, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

WELSH, M. C., & PENNINGTON, B. F.: “Assessing frontal lobe functioning in children: Views from developmental psychology”; en Developmental Psychology, Vol. 24, pp. 199-230, 1988.

WITTGENSTEIN, L. Investigaciones filosóficas, Alfonso García Suárez Y Ulises Moulines (Trad.), Edición para España y América Editorial Crítica S.A., 08013 Barcelona, Ediciones ALTAYA. S.A, 1988.