A common assumption in the philosophical literature on joint action is that individual-level action is both ontologicallyand explanatorily prior to collective action: in this view, joint action emerges fromand is therefore best explained in termsofindividual-level mental (intentional, propositional) states. This leads to the awkward position of attributing individual-like minds to groups. But assigning priority to the collective level is equally unsatisfactory. Here I draw from radicalembodied cognitive science to offer a level-neutral alternative. Whether individual or joint, successful action is properlyunderstood as the soft-assembly of a synergistic system, i.e., a higher-order control system exhibiting dimensional com-pression and reciprocal compensation. This level-neutral lens of synergistic dynamics helps elucidate the circular relationbetween individual and collective action: joint action recruits individual-level motor/cognitive mechanisms, yet individual-level mechanisms only emerge through development in social settingsresulting in a nested, self-reinforcing coordinativestructure for action, both individual and collective.

Folk psychology takes perception and cognition to be two distinct processes. It seems that when we perceive the world we are engaged in one kind of activity and when we think about it we are engaged in a different one. This conception underlies various discussions within the cognitive sciences, such as on the architecture and modularity of the mind, and the cognitive penetrability of perception. But is the distinction justified? This paper looks for an answer in two opposing paradigms in the sciences of the mind: traditional cognitivism and ecological psychology. Even though cognitivism is the dominant paradigm, we argue that it has thus far failed to give a definite account of the relation between perception and cognition, and to support or to deny their separation. Ecological psychology, on the other hand, rejects the distinction and integrates cognition with perception. We discuss previous work within the ecological view and sketch directions for future research.