Nurturing the Ecosoma. Immune System and Impersonal (Dis)Cognition

Abstract

The article reexamines the immune system as a cognitive entity within an enactivism framework and the 4EA approach, emphasizing embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and affective cognition. Based on a comparative and conceptualanalytic method, this text contests the mainstream implications of immunology. Challenging the conventional linear immunity model, which simplifies antigens as inputs and antibodies as outputs, the paper proposes a hypothesis where the immune system, through eigenbehavior, creates virtual selves and endogenous “molecular worlds” influenced by environmental factors. This perspective shifts the view of immunity from a reactive, militaristic model to a more nuanced, “peace-loving” system engaged in adaptive interactions with its environment. The study culminates in analyzing multiple chemical sensitivities as instances of discognition, demonstrating how an organism-centric view of immunology highlights the deep interdependence between humans and their surroundings.

Keywords

• immunity
• enactivism
• eigenbehavior
• inhuman cognition
• multiple chemical sensitivity