The Middle Step: Joint Intentionality as a Human-Unique Form of Second-Personal Engagement

The crucial middle step consists in second-personal engagement with engagement others. In this chapter, the authors present face-to-face interactions joint intentionality. On the other hand there are capacities for acting collectively within a social group or culture, relying on an understanding and sensitivity to supra-individual constructions as cultural conventions, norms, and institutional reality. Much attention has been paid to processes of collective intentionality, often under the rubric of “social ontology”. While the social life of even our nearest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos is characterized by individual intentions, humans routinely coordinate with others to form intricate modes of collective intentions and enduring cultural practices. Chimpanzees have robust and selective intentions to behave cooperatively toward their bond partners, including a tendency to preferentially trust those partners. The authors discuss how early humans evolved new cognitive adaptations, most importantly and fundamentally the dual-level cognitive structure of joint intentionality.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael Tomasello Psychology & Neuroscience