Active inference, enactivism and the hermeneutics of social cognition

Abstract

We distinguish between three philosophical views on the neuroscience of predictive models: <i>predictive coding</i> (associated with internal Bayesian models and prediction error minimization), <i>predictive processing</i> (associated with radical connectionism and 'simple' embodiment) and <i>predictive engagement</i> (associated with enactivist approaches to cognition). We examine the concept of active inference under each model and then ask how this concept informs discussions of social cognition. In this context we consider Frith and Friston's proposal for a neural hermeneutics, and we explore the alternative model of enactivist hermeneutics.