Disturbing Concepts: from Action Theory to a Generative Concept of Agency (original) (raw)
Freedom and the Phenomenology of Agency
Free action and microphysical determination are incompatible but this is so only in virtue of a genuine conflict between microphysical determination with any active behavior. I introduce active behavior as the veridicality condition of agentive experiences (of oneself as active) and of perceptual experiences (of others as active) and argue that these veridicality conditions (a) are fulfilled in many everyday cases of human and non-human behavior and that they (b) imply the incompatibility of active behavior with microphysical determination. The main purpose of the paper is to show that the view proposed about active behavior leads to a natural compromise between libertarianism and compatibilism, which avoids the flaws of both positions while preserving their central insights.
Wherein Lies the Potential of Agency? (2015)
N.B. Short essay completed as part of the doctoral seminar "Architecture et modernité II: Espace(s), perception, conception" given by Caroline Dionne, PhD, (ALICE Laboratory in 2015). Many of the texts cited were discussed collectively in the seminar. Modified following comments by Dr. Dionne.
Gallagher, S. 2012. Multiple aspects in the sense of agency
2012
Recent significant research in a number of disciplines centers on the concept of the sense of agency. Because many of these studies cut across disciplinary lines there is good reason to seek a clear consensus on what 'sense of agency'means. In this paper I indicate some complexities that this consensus might have to deal with. I also highlight an important phenomenological distinction that needs to be considered in any discussion of the sense of agency, regardless of how it gets defined.
Agency: Phenomenological Insights and Dynamic Complementarities
Three phenomenological insights that detail what Husserl (1989) terms " I cans " are remarkable. They are remarkable not only in themselves but in terms of their relevance to understandings of agency and in terms of their dynamic complementarity with Kelso and Fuchs's (2016) reformulation of a well-known infant experiment that offers empirically-grounded insights into the significance of " positive feedback " in relation to agency. " Positive feedback " is by way of the sensory modality of kinesthesia, hence by way of first-person experiences of movement. Each phenomenological insight is set forth and discussed in turn, showing in the process the mutual dynamic complementarity between the insight and Kelso and Fuchs's empirical reformulation. What follows from these insights and complementari-ties is a specification and discussion of their overall implications, first with respect to recent studies of agency in philosophy and in cognitive science, and second with respect to the import of mutually validating empirical and phenomenological studies.
"Agency" (In Dictionnaire du genre en traduction)
Dictionnaire du genre en traduction, 2022
This entry on agency reflects on elements of debate surrounding the translation of this term into French and Brazilian Portuguese. Translating agency underlines its polysemic character and broadens the conceptual horizons tied to this word. Our note begins by identifying difficulties with this translation, which enrich the debate on the definition of agency. Using an example drawn from fiction, we will explore how agency can be deployed in practices that may seem contradictory, giving rise to new perspectives to understand this concept. We will argue in favor of using “marge de manoeuvre” (margin or room for maneuver) as a privileged translation in order to account for how agency can go beyond the sterile binaries between resistance to norms and passivity. This expression emerged during our debates during the workshop on agency, during the first work session of the International Research Network World Gender (IRN World Gender), held in Barcelona between November 6th and 8th 2019. These workshops were co-organized by the Centre de Recerca Teoria, Gènere i Sexualitat (ADHUC, Universitat de Barcelona) and the Laboratoire d’Études de Genre et de Sexualité (LEGS, CNRS - Université Paris VIII – Paris Nanterre).
Agency – Phenomenological Inquiries in Interdisciplinary Perspective
2017
The article intends to realize two goals. The fi rst is an attempt to elucidate an interdisciplinary perspective in the approach to the anthropological category of agency (esp. by A. Gell, K. Wojtyła, M. Chekhov). The second goal is to apply the results of the examination of interdisciplinarity to the proposed defi nition of the anthropological meaning of the notion of agency (in the strict sense). My defi nition captures implications the category has for determining the order of reality in terms of ontological and epistemological dimensions.
Catalogue of the exhibition "Agency without Intention" (2015) at the Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury, UK