Between brains, bodies and things: tectonoetic awareness and the extended self.
This paper presents the possible outline of a framework that will enable the incorporation of material culture into the study of the human self. To this end, I introduce the notions of extended self and tectonoetic awareness. Focusing on the complex interactions between brains, bodies and things and drawing a number of different and usually unconnected threads of evidence from archaeology, philosophy and neuroscience together, I present a view of selfhood as an extended and distributed phenomenon that is enacted across the skin barrier and which thus comprises both neural and extra-neural resources. Finally, I use the example of a gold Mycenaean signet ring to explore how a piece of inanimate matter can be seen (sometimes) as a constitutive and efficacious part of the human self-system.
Malafouris
Lambros
L
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK. lm243@cam.ac.uk
D001106:Archaeology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009488:Neurosciences; D010684:Philosophy; D012649:Self Concept