A theory of cognition proposing that knowing is not representation but action: an organism brings forth a world through its sensorimotor capacities in coupling with an environment. Enaction holds that cognition emerges from the history of viable interactions, not from internal models of a pre-given world. Parameters: (1) enactive agent with autonomous organization, (2) environment structured by the agent's capacities (enactive coupling), (3) cognition as species-specific world-making. Persistence: sustained through peer-reviewed literature in cognitive science (The Embodied Mind, 1991), teaching in cognitive science curricula, and ongoing research programs in embodied AI and phenomenological psychology. [formal: enactivismus | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.10]
Accepted ontology entry
enaction
A theory of cognition proposing that knowing is not representation but action: an organism brings forth a world through its sensorimotor capacities in coupling with an environment. Enaction holds that cognition emerges from the history of…
Definition
Why it is in scope
human-made theory of cognition: the concept that knowledge is not represented internally but enacted through dynamic interaction between agent and environment; built by Varela, Thompson, and Rosch to replace computationalist models
Names and aliases
- enactionen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrrknru301u9q89dknhxr8xdDEPENDS_ON →
Enactive cognition conceives of perception not as passive reception but as active exploration — cognition arises through perceptual-motor coupling with the environment. Remove perception and enactive cognition loses its mechanism of world-coupling entirely.
- cmri33cui003f6olqp5tdhwz5INSTANCE_OF →
Enaction is a specific philosophical approach to cognition, arguing that mind arises through embodied action. INSTANCE_OF direction (specific approach → general discipline) is correct.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 19, 2026, 11:34 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 517aeb3967282d7aa8709cfbb4fea5a679a49ff089425eca43f45ac44421aa81