Revisiting the life of things: A cognitive semiotic study of the agency of artefacts in Amazonia

Abstract

Many contemporary scholars have recently defended the idea that the agency of things is symmetrical and equivalent to human agency. We propose an alternative approach to artefacts’ agency based on a field study concerned with contextually situated observations of the process of design of artefacts in Amazonia. By means of participant observation and interviews, we address the role of artefacts in relation to human agency. In so doing, we focus on the human-unique capacity for design as it is related to cognitive resources such as intentionality, decision-making, planning, and volitional adaptations of the material world to human purposes. We argue that such cognitive resources are ultimate manifestations of human agency. The findings allow us to conclude that artefacts possess a special form of agency, which operates in different ways from the agency of true agents. This agency is derived: it depends on the actions of true agents, with either function as remote intentions or are required for the artefact to work at the moment of use. Thus, the relation between artefacts and agents is asymmetrical. Given that the derived agency of artefacts allows people to expand their own agency, we propose the notion of enhanced agency for the prosthetic incorporation of artefacts into the agentive capabilities of human agents.

Көшпендер Рәміздердің Архетиптері (Қазақ Костюмінің Мысалы Бойынша)

“…Референциальные -(англ. referenceсправка, сноска) привязанные, свойственные, характерные символы, характеризующиеся эмоциональной нейтральностью и логической обоснованностью, наиболее общеприняты, и благодаря своей рациональности именно в большинстве случаев образуют все современные знаковые системы культуры [10,13,15,16,17,18].…”

“…Mendoza-Collazos, J.C., & Sonesson, G. в своих работах определяет символ как социально-культурный знак, имеющий в своей основе идею, содержание, которое можно постичь лишь интуитивно и которое не может быть адекватно выражено вербальным способом [13]. Однако, необходимо дифференцировать понятия «символ» и «знак», поскольку они имеют разные определения и проявления.…”

Cognitive Semiotics: An Overview

“…According to these authors, agency is the capability to act based on the agent's intrinsic intentionally. This implies that agents must be living beings [104,105]. Aligned with humanist and internalist approaches, the authors attribute the "capability to plan, imagine, and improve artefacts, by means of the intentional shaping and assembly of materials" as manifest expression of the uniqueness of human agency, distinct to that of other species, including primates [106].…”