TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE NOTION OF AGENCY: A PHILOSOPHICAL ASSESSMENT

PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS LIKE TYLER BURGE, BRIAN SKYRMS, AND STUART KAUFFMAN, AMONG OTHERS, HOLD THAT THE CONCEPT OF AGENCY IS TO BE STRETCHED FAR BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL APPROACHES. SOME OF THEM, LIKE KAUFFMAN, EFFECTIVELY IDENTIFY AGENCY WITH LIFE ITSELF. IN THIS WORK I SURVEY AND DISCUSS THE WAY “AGENCY” IS UNDERSTOOD AND APPLIED IN DIVERSE CONTEXTS, SUSTAINING THAT, CONTRARILY TO WHAT SOME PHILOSOPHERS MAY THINK, THE NOTION OF NON-MENTAL AGENCY IS SEEN AS UNPROBLEMATIC IN NUMEROUS AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE. THUS, I SUGGEST THE CONSIDERATION OF BOTH NON-MENTAL AGENCY AND MENTAL AGENCY UNDER A SINGLE BANNER, NAMELY GENERAL AGENCY, A MOVE THAT HELPS HIGHLIGHT THIS OVERALL TREND. I ALSO PROPOSE AND SUSTAIN—INFORMED BY THE WORK OF BIOPHYSICIST NICK LANE—THE IDEA THAT PROKARYOTES (BACTERIA AND ARCHAEA) AND EUKARYOTES (ALL OTHER FORMS OF LIFE) BE CONSIDERED AS CAPABLE OF MANIFESTING SIMPLE AND COMPLEX FORMS OF AGENCY, RESPECTIVELY. I ARGUE THAT THIS IS NO TRIVIAL DISTINCTION, BECAUSE IT DERIVES FROM A RARE ENDOSYMBIOTIC EVENT THAT EFFECTIVELY ALLOWED THE TRANSPOSITION OF AN OTHERWISE IMPOSSIBLE TO CROSS—VIA NATURAL SELECTION ALONE—ENERGETIC BARRIER. OF COURSE THE EVENT IN QUESTION HAPPENED IN A COMPLETELY NATURAL CONTEXT. IN ACCORDANCE WITH BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE, I CONSIDER SIMPLE AGENCY AS RESTRICTED TO EXPLORING SOLELY THE POTENTIAL OF BIOCHEMICAL AND METABOLIC DIVERSITY (AS HAPPENED ALONG ALMOST FOUR BILLION YEARS), WHILE COMPLEX AGENCY BENEFITS FROM THE MORE RECENT (BUT ANCIENT NONETHELESS) STRONG POTENTIALITY DERIVED FROM THE ENABLEMENT OF MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY. MULTICELLULARITY, NEURAL NETWORKS AND BRAINS ARE BUT A FEW CASES TO HAVE IN MIND, BUT I EMPHASIZE THAT COMPLEX AGENCY IS ALREADY AVAILABLE TO CREATURES AS SIMPLE AS THE EUKARYOTIC AMOEBA, THAT LACKS ANY “MENTALITY-RELATED” CAPACITY. AS A COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCE, IT MUST BE ASSUMED THAT, ONCE THE BACTERIAL “LIFE-STYLE” IS REGARDED BY MANY SCIENTISTS AS THE MOST PROBABLE TO BE FOUND ELSEWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE—I.E., IN CASE LIFE IS NOT A PHENOMENON LIMITED TO OUR EARTH—, THIS AMOUNTS TO SAYING THAT COMPLEX AGENCY IS RARE AND PERHAPS ONLY MANIFEST HERE. FINALLY, I CONJECTURE THAT BOTH SIMPLE (NON-MENTAL) AND COMPLEX (NON-MENTAL AND MENTAL) AGENCY ACCOUNTS CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS WELL-SUITED TO FIT INTO INTERPRETATIONS OF THE EVOLVING BLOCK UNIVERSE—I CONSIDER SPECIFICALLY THE WORK OF PHYSICIST GEORGE ELLIS—, AND PERHAPS OTHER PROPOSALS THAT TAKE OBJECTIVE BECOMING AS A FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE.