Chapter 5: Understanding Others Without A Word: Articulating the Shared Circuits Model with Semiotic-Cultural Constructivist Psychology

In the present chapter, we attempt to articulate the theory of shared circuits model (SCM) developed by the philosopher Susan Hurley (1954– 2007) with the semiotic-cultural constructivism in psychology (cf. Simão, 2003, 2005, 2010). Through the proposed theoretical articulation we aim to develop a background for further investigations in the field of an integrative approach on phylogenesis, ontogenesis, and social relationships. Even though the questioning on the embracement between biological and social histories has been widely debated in psychology, theoretical conceptions on this relationship remain polemic and fragmented. We propose that recursive epistemology (cf. 8) is convergent with the present integrative effort, since the ecology of the mind addresses dynamic, integrative, and multilevel understandings of what happens in the boundary between the inside and the outside of an organism (cf. 8; Ingold, 2000).