Collective Intentionality and Autism: Against the Exclusion of the “Social Misfits”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1901135LKeywords:
Searle, collective intentionality, autism, imitation, cooperation, rule-governed behaviorAbstract
The paper aims to shed light on Searle’s notion of collective intentionality (CI) as a primitive phenomenon shared by all humans. The latter could be problematic given that there are individuals who are unable to grasp collective intentionality and fully collaborate within the framework of “we-intentionality”. Such is the case of individuals with autism, given that the lack of motivation and skills for sharing psychological states with others is one of the diagnostic criteria for Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The paper will argue that exclusion of individuals with autism is not a threat for Searle’s notion of collective intentionality, as the notion can be read as merely a biological disposition that all human beings share. Furthermore, the paper proposes the extension of Searle’s concept of CI so it can include behaviors of individuals who have the disposition towards CI, but which was not evolved through ontogenesis; namely, for individuals with autism.
References
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Tomasello, Micheal, Melinda Carpenterand and Ulf Liszkowski (2007), “A New Look at Infant Pointing”, Child Development 78 (3): 705–722.
Trevarthen, Colwyn, Theano Kokkinaki and Geraldo Fiamenghi (1999), “What Infants’ Imitations Communicate: With Mothers, with Fathers and with Peers”, in J. Nadel and G. Butterworth (eds.), Imitation in Infancy, pp. 127–185
Torres, Elisabeth B. (2013), “Autism: The Micro-Movement Perspective”, Front. Integr. Neuroscience 24: 7–32.
Uzgiris, Ina (1999), “Imitation as Activity: Its Developmental Aspects”, in J. Nadel and G. Butterworth (eds.), Imitation in Infancy, pp. 186–206.
Baron-Cohen, Simon, Alan Leslie and Uta Frith (1985), “Does the Autistic Child Have a ‘Theory of Mind’?”, Cognition, 21: 37–46.
Charman, Tony et al. (1997), “Infants with Autism: An Investigation of Empathy, Pretend Play, Joint Attention, and Imitation”, Developmental Psychology 33(5): 781–789.
Colombi, Constanza et al. (2009), “Examining Correlates of Cooperation in Autism: Imitation, Joint Attention, and Understanding Intentions”, Autism 13: 143–163.
Firth, Una (2008), Autism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gallese, Vittorio, Morris Eagle and Paolo Mignone (2007), “Intentional Attunement: Mirror Neurons and the Neural Underpinnings of Interpersonal Relations”, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 55(1):131–176.
Goldman, Alvin Ira (2012), “Theory of Mind”, in: Eric Margolis, Richard Samuelsand Stephen Stich (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 402–424
Hamilton, Antonia, Rachel Bridley and Una Frith (2007), “Imitation and Action Understanding in Autistic Spectrum Disorders: How Valid Is the Hypothesis of a Deficit in the Mirror Neuron System?”, Neuropsychologia 45: 1859–1868.
Happe, Francesca and Uta Frith (1996), “The Neuropsychology of Autism”, Brain 119: 1377–1400.
Ingersoll, Brooke and Linda Schreibman (2006), “Teaching Reciprocal Imitation Skills to Young Children with Autism Using a Naturalistic Behavioral Approach: Effects on Language, Pretend Play, and Joint Attention”, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36: 487–505.
Ingersoll, Brooke (2008), “The Social Role of Imitation in Autism Implications for the Treatment of Imitation Deficits”, Infants & Young Children 21(2): 107–119.
Kasari, Connie et al. (1990), “Affective Sharing in the Context of Joint Attention Interaction of Normal, Autistic and Mentally Retarded Children”, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 20: 87–100.
Kuczynski, Leon, Carolyn Zahn-Waxlerand Marian Radke-Yarrow (1987), “Development and Content of Imitation in the Second and Third Years of Life: A Socialization Perspective”, Developmental Psychology 23: 276–282.
Malatesta, Caroline Zender and Carroll Izard (1984), “The Ontogenesis of Human Social Signals: From Biological Imperative to Symbol Utilization”, in Nathan Fox and Richard Davidson (eds.), The Psychobiology of Affective Development, Hillsdale: Erlbaum, pp. 161–206.
Mameli, Matteo and Patrick Bateson (2006), “Innateness and the Sciences”, Biology and Philosophy 21(2): 155–188.
Mejers, Anthonie (2003), “Can Collective Intentionality be Individualized”, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 62(1): 167–183.
Meltzoff, Andrew and Allison Gopnik (1993), “The Role of Imitation in Understanding Persons and Developing Theory of Mind”, in Baron-Cohen, Simon (ed.), Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Autism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 335–366
Mundy, Peter et al. (1986), “Defining the Social Deficits in Autism: The Contribution of Non-Verbal Communication Measures”, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 27: 657–669.
Nadel, Jacqueline et al. (1999), “The Evolving Nature of Imitation as a Format for Communication”, in Jacqueline Nadel and George Butterworth (eds.), Imitation in Infancy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Ochs, Elinor et al. (2004), “Autism and the Social World: An Anthropological Perspective”, Discourse studies 6(2): 147–183.
Pacherie, Elisabeth (2007), “Is Collective Intentionality Really Primitive?”, in Micheal Beaney, Carlo Penco and Massimiliano Vignolo (eds.), Mental Processes: Representing and Inferring, Cambridge Scholar Press, pp. 153–175.
Rogers, Sally and Bruce Pennington (1991), “A Theoretical Approach to the Deficits in Infantile Autism”, Developmental Psychology 3: 137–162.
Salice, Alessandro (2015), “There Are No Primitive We-Intentions”, Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6 (4): 695–715.
Searle, John (2002), Consciousness and Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
–. (1995), The Construction of Social Reality, New York: The Free Press.
–. (1990), “Collective Intentions and Actions”, in Cohen, Philip, Jerry Morgan and Martha Pollack (eds.), Intentions in Communication, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, pp. 405–415.
Sigman, Marian and Judy Ungerer (1984), “Cognitive and Language Skills in Autistic, Mentally Retarded, and Normal Children”, Developmental Psychology 20(2): 293– 302.
Swettenham John and Simon Baron-Cohen (1996), “What’s inside Someone’s Head? Conceiving of the Mind as a Camera Helps Children with Autism Acquire an Alternative to a Theory of Mind”, Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 1(1): 73–88.
Tarbox, Jonathan, Carrie Zuckermann and Melissa Olive (2011), “Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching a Preliminary Repertoire of Rule-Following to Children with Autism”, The Analyisis Verbal Behavavior 27(1): 125–139.
Tomasello, Micheal, Ann Cale Kruger and Hillary Horn Ratner, (1993), “Cultural Learning”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16: 495–552.
Tomasello, Micheal, Melinda Carpenterand and Ulf Liszkowski (2007), “A New Look at Infant Pointing”, Child Development 78 (3): 705–722.
Trevarthen, Colwyn, Theano Kokkinaki and Geraldo Fiamenghi (1999), “What Infants’ Imitations Communicate: With Mothers, with Fathers and with Peers”, in J. Nadel and G. Butterworth (eds.), Imitation in Infancy, pp. 127–185
Torres, Elisabeth B. (2013), “Autism: The Micro-Movement Perspective”, Front. Integr. Neuroscience 24: 7–32.
Uzgiris, Ina (1999), “Imitation as Activity: Its Developmental Aspects”, in J. Nadel and G. Butterworth (eds.), Imitation in Infancy, pp. 186–206.
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Published
09.03.2019
How to Cite
Lekić, K. (2019) “Collective Intentionality and Autism: Against the Exclusion of the ‘Social Misfits’”, Filozofija i društvo/Philosophy and Society. Belgrade, Serbia, 30(1), pp. 135–148. doi: 10.2298/FID1901135L.
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STUDIES AND ARTICLES
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Articles published in Philosophy and Society are open-access in accordance with the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License.
