John James Sykes

Abstract [ENG]: While the interdisciplinary field known as Enactive Cognitive Science (ECS) has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, the theme of spatiality has been notably absent in the relevant scholarship. This absence is especially puzzling when considering how deeply interconnected spatiality is with celebrated themes of ECS, such as embodiment, interaction and temporality. To address this lacuna in the current literature, I combine the resources of cognitive neuroscience, phenomenology and semiotics to showcase spatial consciousness from an enactive standpoint. First, I develop a theoretical account of lived space using phenomenological and semiotic literature, particularly that of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, von Uexkull and Peirce. Using this theoretical account as a baseline, I interpret a series of empirical studies through this lens, dividing the studies into those that investigate spatial interactions with both Objects and Others. This culminates in an interdisciplinary model of bodily space, in which I propose that human beings engage their spatial surroundings not as a geometric form or empty volume, but as a place of meaning.