John Stewart: Tribute/Legacy/Debate

John Stewart has deeply influenced several generations of scientists in cognitive science. His catching passion and his gift to start debates and arguments offered to the scientific field of cognitive science colors and issues on the existential as well as theoretical grounds. He stood up for an initiative of non-reductional naturalism, binding phenomenological experiences and scientific explanations. In biology, he fought against the reduction of the living (evolution and morphogenesis) to the sole genetic information. In cognitive science, he promoted an enactive approach against several forms of computationalism. These two struggles were gathered under the banner “Life = cognition”. Meanwhile, inside the Compiègne school, he defended the idea of the technical and social constitutivity of human cognition. He searched for the understanding of both the origins and the structures of high- and low-order cognitive abilities (perception, language or reasoning) through the species evolution, the hominization process, the history of technics and the development of social organization.

This special issue aims at gathering several contributions to these issues that could challenge the writings of John Stewart, in order to show that the multiform work he left to the community and to the society is still alive. This issue-tribute includes several contribution presenting such debates dear to John.