From Cognitive Archaeology to a Theory of the Mind, Involved in the Material World. The Foundations of Lambros Malafouris' Material Engagement Theory

Abstract

The aim of the study is to uncover the conceptual foundations of Lambros Malafouris' Material Engagement Theory. In order to realise this aim, we have used comparative-historical and analytical-interpretative methods to explicate the genesis, basic assumptions and concepts of the theory. In particular, we have shown that the theory of mind development, involved in the material world, arises in the framework of Colin Renfrew's cognitive-processual archeology. Using evidence from material culture, its proponents attempt to answer the question of the emergence and development of human cognitive functions. To find an answer to the question, Malafouris uses the treatment of the mind as extended into the external world, applying the metaphor of creative dynamic co-evolution. Mind emerges and functions through an ongoing process of mutual enactment of embodied mind and material environment. To identify the specifics of this co-evolutionary treatment, we have explicated the key concepts of material engagement theory: metaplasticity, material agency and material-enactivating signification. They characterise the effects of the cognitive-material engagement process. The scientific significance lies in the fact that of the study contributes to understanding the heuristic potential of Material Engagement Theory, which is emerging within the research programme of embodied cognition.