Papers by Alejandro Arango
New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities, 2024
Southern Journal of Philosophy, 2023
This article proposes that social identities are best understood as a kind of affordance, a “soci... more This article proposes that social identities are best understood as a kind of affordance, a “social identity affordance.” Social identity affordances are possibilities for action and interaction between persons, within a social niche, based on perceived and self-perceived social group identification. First, the view presented captures and articulates the basic structure of social identities. Second, it explains the multifaceted interplay of such an item in the social field, including not only the complexity of the interpersonal dimensions, but also the multiplicity of registers in which social identities vibrate (ethical, political, psychological, geographical, affective, epistemic). Third, by doing good on (i) and (ii), the view makes social identities intelligible, helping preclude reductive misinterpretations of social identities, either subjective-only or public-only. The view has robust descriptive and explanatory power in concrete social contexts and retains the openness of a historically bound type of formation whose specific meanings change over time.
Journal of Social Philosophy, 2022
The debate about the definition of Latinidad as a social identity has fluctuated between accounts... more The debate about the definition of Latinidad as a social identity has fluctuated between accounts that put it closer to ethnicity or closer to race. We present and defend the claim that the multiplicity of features and experiences of Latinxs in the United States is best accounted for by placing Latinidad in a different theoretical space. We draw from the ecological psychology and enactive literature on affordances to argue that Latinidad can be better understood as a social identity affordance: a multifaceted landscape of possibilities for interaction, to do and to be done unto. We then focus on four areas that are part of the objective factors that have come to constitute Latinidad and which provide reasons to shy away from both race and ethnicity: the facts of mestizaje and hybridization, a vexed relation to the land, the political horizons and histories of this population, and the multiplicity of sensory-based cultural practices of Latinxs. It is precisely the many and deep variations across Latinxs that make social affordances an apt way to conceptualize a social identity whose reality is asserted pragmatically in many aspects of social life in the U.S.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2023
Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has featured an increasing concern for understanding and consider... more Applied behavior analysis (ABA) has featured an increasing concern for understanding and considering the cultural diversity of the populations behavior analysts serve in recent years. As an expression of that concern, the new BACB's Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts is more explicit and comprehensive in its inclusion of ethical obligations concerning cultural diversity. The purpose of this paper is to offer a discussion on the limitations of both our capacity and willingness to know and overcome our ignorance about our own and other cultures. We examine different ways in which our ignorance of other cultures plays out even in willful compliance with the BACB ethics code. We suggest part of the problem is that the BACB ethics code seems to operate under the assumption that practitioners are always aware or can be aware of what they do not know and of their biases. In contrast, we offer a reflection on a more complex picture of our understanding of ourselves and other cultures, where we cannot assume people are aware of what they ignore and of their biases. Ethically, we find that in some cases these blindspots are accounted for by the BACB ethics code and should be foreseen and addressed by the behavior analyst (BA). But in other cases, when a person is not aware of what they ignore, understanding the connection between cultural diversity ignorance and professional behavior requires a different approach. Our analysis suggests an attitude of being thoughtfully diligent and humble while learning about cultural diversity issues and examining the areas where we might be ignorant and not aware of our ignorance. We argue that BAs' obligations to respect the dignity of clients and their families and to provide effective treatment call for this attitude of diligence and humility that goes beyond mere compliance.
Teaching Philosophy, 2021
What is a philosophy class like? What roles do teachers and students play? Questions like these h... more What is a philosophy class like? What roles do teachers and students play? Questions like these have been answered time and again by philosophers using images and metaphors. As philosophers continue to develop pedagogical approaches in a more conscious way, it is worth evaluating traditional metaphors used to understand and structure philosophy classes. In this article, we examine two common metaphors –the sage on the stage, and philosophy as combat– and show why they fail pedagogically. Then we propose five metaphors –teaching philosophy as world-traveling, wondering, conducting an orchestra, storytelling, and coaching– that can better respond to the needs of increasingly diverse student bodies. Further, these metaphors find their ground in long-standing beliefs about what philosophy is, how it is done, and what it can do for those willing to engage in it. While no single one of them is comprehensive, we think that these models can help us enliven our own thinking about our teaching and the roles we and our students play in our classrooms.
Adaptive Behavior, 2019
Proponents of enactivism should be interested in exploring what notion of action best captures th... more Proponents of enactivism should be interested in exploring what notion of action best captures the type of action-perception link that the view proposes, such that it covers all the aspects in which our doings constitute and are constituted by our perceiving. This article proposes and defends the thesis that the notion of sensorimotor dependencies is insufficient to account for the reality of human perception, and that the central enactive notion should be that of perceptual practices. Sensorimotor enactivism is insufficient because it has no traction on socially dependent perceptions, which are essential to the role and significance of perception in our lives. Since the social dimension is a central desideratum in a theory of human perception, enactivism needs a notion that accounts for such an aspect. This article sketches the main features of the Wittgenstein-inspired notion of perceptual practices as the central notion to understand perception. Perception, I claim, is properly understood as woven into a type of social practices that includes food, dance, dress, music, etc. More specifically, perceptual practices are the enactment of culturally structured, normatively rich techniques of commerce of meaningful multi-and intermodal perceptible material. I argue that perceptual practices explain three central features of socially dependent perception: attentional focus, aspects' saliency, and modal-specific harmony-like relations.
Adaptive Behavior, 2019
In his comment, McGann argues that in my ''From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices... more In his comment, McGann argues that in my ''From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices: Making Enactivism Social,'' I have overlooked a group of enactivist theories that can be grouped under the participatory sense-making label. In this reply, I explain that the omission is due to the fact that such theories are not accounts of perception. It is argued that, unlike participatory sense-making, the approach of the ''From Sensorimotor Dependencies to Perceptual Practices'' article does not focus on the perceptual aspects of things social, but on the social aspects that are constitutive of perception in general. I conclude by underscoring the central argument of the original article: that the adequate notion to make enactivism about perception social is that of ''perceptual practices,'' a social practices-based notion of perception.
Acta fenomenológica latinoamericana, 2019
Este artículo presenta y defiende una concepción expresiva del mundo perceptual que depende de la... more Este artículo presenta y defiende una concepción expresiva del mundo perceptual que depende de la intersubjetividad. En un primer momento, se muestra el desarrollo del concepto de expresión según Husserl y según Merleau-Ponty. El punto central de este desarrollo es que, en contraste con la concepción tradicional del concepto de expresión, que es lingüística y consiste en la manifestación exterior de algo interno, se propone ahora una idea de expresión que ya no separa radicalmente lo expresado de la expresión, no se concibe como traducción, y se aplica a la relación entre subjetividad y corporalidad. Para ajustar la aplicación de la expresión a la percepción, se argumenta que las apariencias
perceptuales requieren de una cualificación en términos de la posición o perspectiva del sujeto que percibe. Esta “posición” o perspectiva no es
únicamente espacio-temporal, sino que también es pragmática. Finalmente, se introduce la intersubjetividad, entendida pragmáticamente, a través de la idea de que hay maneras de explorar el mundo con los sentidos que son constituidas socialmente por los diferentes grupos sociales de los que hacemos parte. Se argumenta que esta concepción pragmatista, diferente a la ruta predominante en fenomenología basada en el significado como un asunto de conciencia de la experiencia, también es defendible en el terreno fenomenológico, particularmente a través de la noción husserliana de toma de posición
(Stellungnahme) y la idea merleaupontiana de las maneras de interrogar el mundo perceptualmente.
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2016
Through a critical engagement with Merleau-Ponty’s discussion of the concepts of nature, life, an... more Through a critical engagement with Merleau-Ponty’s discussion of the concepts of nature, life, and behavior, and with contemporary accounts of animal groups, this article argues that animal groups exhibit sociality and that sociality is a fundamental ontological condition. I situate my account in relation to the superorganism and selfish individual accounts of animal groups in recent biology and zoology. I argue that both accounts are inadequate. I propose an alternative account of animal groups and animal sociality through a Merleau-Pontian inspired definition of behavior. I criticize Merleau-Ponty’s individualistic prejudice, but show that his philosophy contains the resources necessary to overcome this bias. I define behavior as a holistic, ongoing, meaningful and Umwelt-oriented intrinsically configured expression of living forms of existence. By looking at cases of animal groups drawn from contemporary studies in zoology and behavioral ecology, I show that animal groups, in the fact that they behave, manifest themselves to be a fundamental form of existence, namely, the social form of existence.
Think, 2015
What would happen if one morning you wake up clumsy, as if your sense of touch were unreliable, a... more What would happen if one morning you wake up clumsy, as if your sense of touch were unreliable, arbitrarily on and off? And what would this clumsiness look like if we could transfer it to the moral sense? The article expounds an interesting analogy between the sense of touch, loosely construed, and the moral sense: just as a sort of consistency is necessary for the sense of touch to do its job, so it is for the moral sense to play its part. Touch enables us to navigate the everyday world of coffee pots and staircases; our moral sensibility comes into play when we act or when we judge our actions and those of others, and plays a directive role in what we feel, how we feel it, and how we react to it. Taking the analogy further, I will suggest that inconsistency causes, in both cases, a certain clumsiness, and that clumsiness is linked to arbitrariness—like the person that helps others in dire need, but only does so on some rainy days.
Phenomenology and Mind, 2014
I argue that Husserl’s concept of position-taking, Stellungnahme, is adequate to understand the i... more I argue that Husserl’s concept of position-taking, Stellungnahme, is adequate to understand the idea of second nature as an issue of philosophical anthropology. I claim that the methodological focus must be the living subject that acts and lives among others, and that the notion of second nature must respond to precisely this fundamental active character of subjectivity. The appropriate concept should satisfy two additional desiderata. First, it should be able to develop alongside the biological, psychological, and social individual development. Second, it should be able to underlie the vast diversity of human beings within and across communities. As possible candidates, I contrast position-taking with two types of habit-like concepts: instinct and habitus, on the one hand, and customary habits, on the other. I argue that position-taking represents the active aspect of the subject while the habit-like concepts are passive. A subject’s position-takings and ensuing comportments are tied together by motivations, which evince a certain consistency, and for this reason are expression of the subject's identity. I conclude by nuancing the relation between Stellungnahme and passivity. Passivity is deemed necessary to action but subservient to it; position-taking is thought to be prior to passivity.
Este ensayo presenta una manera de entender el sentido de la enseñanza de las humanidades a parti... more Este ensayo presenta una manera de entender el sentido de la enseñanza de las humanidades a partir de algunas ideas de la pensadora alemana Hannah Arendt. A partir de los conceptos de verdad, opinión y realidad, y mostrando cómo la realidad es una unión de diferentes opiniones o perspectivas, el ensayo deriva una forma de pensar y de juzgar situaciones cotidianas caracterizada por tener en cuenta las opiniones de otros, pensando en compañía con ellos, de manera que el propio pensamiento se construya y afirme. Es allí, en la formación de esa particular capacidad de juzgar las situaciones presentes donde se ubica el sentido de las humanidades.
Conference Presentations by Alejandro Arango
I develop an argument for the pragmatic dependence of perception based on the notion of position-... more I develop an argument for the pragmatic dependence of perception based on the notion of position-taking (Stellungnahme) as an overarching structure of intentionality, suggesting a more decidedly pragmatic-oriented picture of Husserl’s philosophy than is common in the literature. I first examine the idea of multiple strata constitutively at work at the level of the full person and her experiences. The person’s identity resides in her active position-takings. I argue that position-taking defines the actual workings of perception and its contents. I identify position-taking as a noetic moment, and broadly outline its noematic correlative, specifically for the case of perception. To perceive something is not a relation with a ready-made object but includes the very thematization of the perceptual object, which is partly the object directly perceived, pace Hopp (2011a). In virtue of the dynamism of position-takings I infer that the noema must be seen as essentially dynamic.
Books by Alejandro Arango
New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities, 2024
This volume presents new research in social ontology by focusing on ques- tions related to the ch... more This volume presents new research in social ontology by focusing on ques- tions related to the characteristics, categories, and conceptual methodolo- gies surrounding social identities, in general, and specific social identities, in particular.
The volume contains eight original essays, plus a foreword written by Linda Martín Alcoff, that engage with issues pertaining to a broad range of identities, including class, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and religious identity. This collection is an abrebocas, an entry way to theorizing about social identities in novel ways, and the essays collected here point to specific modes of understanding and experiencing social identities that have not been given their due or that offer new approaches to well-worn topics.
New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities will appeal to scholars and advanced students across several philosophical disciplines, such as philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, social and political philosophy, phenomenology, epistemology, and social ontology. Scholars in disciplines like psychology, religious studies, and other social sciences will also find new approaches to questions of social identity relevant to understanding the complexity of the social world.
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Papers by Alejandro Arango
perceptuales requieren de una cualificación en términos de la posición o perspectiva del sujeto que percibe. Esta “posición” o perspectiva no es
únicamente espacio-temporal, sino que también es pragmática. Finalmente, se introduce la intersubjetividad, entendida pragmáticamente, a través de la idea de que hay maneras de explorar el mundo con los sentidos que son constituidas socialmente por los diferentes grupos sociales de los que hacemos parte. Se argumenta que esta concepción pragmatista, diferente a la ruta predominante en fenomenología basada en el significado como un asunto de conciencia de la experiencia, también es defendible en el terreno fenomenológico, particularmente a través de la noción husserliana de toma de posición
(Stellungnahme) y la idea merleaupontiana de las maneras de interrogar el mundo perceptualmente.
Conference Presentations by Alejandro Arango
Books by Alejandro Arango
The volume contains eight original essays, plus a foreword written by Linda Martín Alcoff, that engage with issues pertaining to a broad range of identities, including class, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and religious identity. This collection is an abrebocas, an entry way to theorizing about social identities in novel ways, and the essays collected here point to specific modes of understanding and experiencing social identities that have not been given their due or that offer new approaches to well-worn topics.
New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities will appeal to scholars and advanced students across several philosophical disciplines, such as philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, social and political philosophy, phenomenology, epistemology, and social ontology. Scholars in disciplines like psychology, religious studies, and other social sciences will also find new approaches to questions of social identity relevant to understanding the complexity of the social world.
perceptuales requieren de una cualificación en términos de la posición o perspectiva del sujeto que percibe. Esta “posición” o perspectiva no es
únicamente espacio-temporal, sino que también es pragmática. Finalmente, se introduce la intersubjetividad, entendida pragmáticamente, a través de la idea de que hay maneras de explorar el mundo con los sentidos que son constituidas socialmente por los diferentes grupos sociales de los que hacemos parte. Se argumenta que esta concepción pragmatista, diferente a la ruta predominante en fenomenología basada en el significado como un asunto de conciencia de la experiencia, también es defendible en el terreno fenomenológico, particularmente a través de la noción husserliana de toma de posición
(Stellungnahme) y la idea merleaupontiana de las maneras de interrogar el mundo perceptualmente.
The volume contains eight original essays, plus a foreword written by Linda Martín Alcoff, that engage with issues pertaining to a broad range of identities, including class, sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and religious identity. This collection is an abrebocas, an entry way to theorizing about social identities in novel ways, and the essays collected here point to specific modes of understanding and experiencing social identities that have not been given their due or that offer new approaches to well-worn topics.
New Perspectives on the Ontology of Social Identities will appeal to scholars and advanced students across several philosophical disciplines, such as philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, social and political philosophy, phenomenology, epistemology, and social ontology. Scholars in disciplines like psychology, religious studies, and other social sciences will also find new approaches to questions of social identity relevant to understanding the complexity of the social world.