Johannes Himmelreich

Ratio 31(2), 197–213, 2018

Abstract

This paper develops a taxonomy of kinds of actions that can be seen in group agency, human–machine interactions, and virtual realities. These kinds of actions are special in that they are not embodied in the ordinary sense. The paper begins by analysing the notion of embodiment into three separate assumptions that together comprise the Embodiment View. Although this view may find support in paradigmatic cases of agency, the paper suggests that each of its assumptions can be relaxed. With each assumption that is given up, a different kind of disembodied action becomes available. The taxonomy gives a systematic overview and suggests that disembodied actions have the same theoretical relevance as the actions of any ordinarily embodied human.