Skills without affectivity? Integrating affective experiences into the philosophy of skills
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21702878 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susana Ramírez-Vizcaya (0000-0001-6829-025X, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 358-376 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophical Explorations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1386-9795 • E-ISSN: 1741-5918 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13869795.2025.2568525 |
| OpenAlex | W4414779476 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 41 |
In this paper, I emphasise the relevance of affectivity in skilled acquisition and performance, an aspect that remains under-theorised in the philosophy of skills. Drawing on a phenomenologically informed enactivist framework, I argue that affectivity is not a mere by-product but an integral dimension of skilled agency. I identify two key ways in which affectivity shapes the dynamics of skilled performance. First, I discuss how affective appraisals serve as pre-reflective indicators of normative adequacy or inadequacy during performance, guiding corrections, sustaining motivation, and fostering creativity. Second, I examine self-esteem as an existential feeling that configures our sense of agency and practical engagement with the world. In this context, I analyse the phenomenon of stereotype threat to show how interpersonal interactions and sociocultural norms modulate self-esteem, and how repeated exposure to negative stereotypes can gradually erode it, thereby undermining an agent's skilful performance. These insights invite a reconceptualisation of affectivity as central not only to the execution and development of skilled action, but also to its possible breakdown
Experimental philosophy · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Educational and Psychological Assessments · Psychological and Educational Research Studies
The Feeling Body
Sensorimotor Life
Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research
Intelligence without representation – Merleau-Ponty's critique of mental representation The relevance of phenomenology to scientific explanation
Life and Mind
Situated Normativity
Stereotype Threat
Against intellectualism
Embodied Intelligence and Self-Regulation in Skilled Performance
Testing Stereotype Threat
Why Do Women Underperform Under Stereotype Threat
Self-efficacy
Academic stereotype threat and engagement of higher vocational students
Embodied Harm
Throwing like a girl
A threat in the elder
They’ve lost control
Extending the enactive concept of habit
When saying and doing diverge
Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans
Relations between gender stereotyping and foreign language attainment
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Skill And Expertise
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |