Situated agency: the normative medium of human action

Abstract

In this paper the notion of individual agency is critically examined in light of the enactive approach to understanding the mind. It is argued that following the work of Hanne De Jaegher, Ezequiel Di Paolo, Tom Froese and others, agency must be considered in terms that are situational rather than bounded by biological individuals. Such a revised notion of agency presents substantive challenges to our current theory and research practices in this area. Drawing on the work of Harry Heft, Roger Barker and others some theoretical and methodological resources are advanced that may help to address these challenges. It is argued that the notion of ‘behaviour settings’ developed by Barker and his colleagues, and refined somewhat more recently by Heft, offers a coherent way of thinking in terms that address the systemic and holistic nature of situated agency.