Together with Ezequiel Di Paolo, we have extended the enactive concept of sense-making into the social domain. It takes as its departure point the process of interaction between individuals in a social encounter. It is a well-established finding that individuals can and generally do coordinate their movements and utterances in such situations. We argue that the interaction process itself can take on a form of autonomy (operationally defined). This allows us to reframe the problem of social cognition as that of how meaning is generated and transformed in the interplay between the unfolding interaction process and the individuals engaged in it. The notion of sense-making in this realm becomes participatory sense-making. This notion defines a spectrum of participation, from simpler cases of orientation of individual sense-making to joint sense-making (exemplified in acts that can only be completed socially, like the act of handing over an object). The onus of social understanding thus moves away from strictly the individual only.

Publications:

• De Jaegher, H. (online first 19/08/2019) Loving and knowing. Reflections for an engaged epistemology. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, doi:10.1007/s11097-019-09634-5 (pdf)
• Fletcher-Watson, S., De Jaegher, H., van Dijk, J., Frauenberger, C., Magnée, M., & Ye, J. (2018). Diversity computing. ACM Interactions, 25(5), 28–33.
• De Jaegher, H., Pieper, B., Clénin, D., & Fuchs, T. (2017). Grasping intersubjectivity: an invitation to embody social interaction research. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 16(3), (491–523). doi: 10.1007/s11097-016-9469-8
• De Jaegher, H. (2016). Deelnemend zin-geven. Een wetenschappelijke basis voor genuanceerde interacties. Systeemtheoretisch Bulletin, 34(2), 121-138.
• De Jaegher H, Peräkylä A, and Stevanovic M (2016). The co-creation of meaningful action: Bridging enaction and interactional sociology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 371: 20150378.
• De Jaegher H (2015) How we affect each other. Michel Henry’s “pathos-with” and the enactive approach to intersubjectivity. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 21(1-2), 112-132.
• De Jaegher H (2013). Embodiment and sense-making in autism. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 7(15), doi: 10.3389/fnint.2013.00015
• De Jaegher H (2013). Rigid and fluid interactions with institutions. Cognitive Systems Research 25-26 (0), 19-25. doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.002
• De Jaegher, H., Di Paolo, E. & Gallagher, S. (2010). Can social interaction constitute social cognition? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(10), 441-447. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.06.009
• Fuchs, T., & De Jaegher, H. (2009). Enactive Intersubjectivity: Participatory sense-making and mutual incorporation. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 8(4), 465-486.
• De Jaegher, H. (2009). Social understanding through direct perception? Yes, by interacting. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(2), 535-542.
• De Jaegher, H., & Di Paolo, E. (2007). Participatory Sense-Making: An enactive approach to social cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 6(4), 485-507.