Homo Practicus: Practice Theory and Post-Cognitivist AI

摘要

We consider some similar trends in social theory and artificial intelligence, which have both seen a focus on autonomous, rational self-interested agents supplemented or opposed by normative frameworks where agent autonomy is circumscribed by various rules, protocols or implicit conventions. A further development in social theory has been the 'practice turn', the emergence of practice theory in the work of Bourdieu and others, which was at least partly stimulated by encounters with Heidegger and Wittgenstein. We conclude by considering whether more recent strands in AI such as 'Heideggerian' and enactive approaches can be seen as playing a similar role in AI as practice theory has in sociology.