Should Empathic Social Robots Have Interiority?

In this article we discuss whether robots need "interiority" in order to competently participate in emotional and empathic dynamics with human partners. We draw on original research on emotions, mind, neurophysiological mechanisms of social interaction and HRI to contest the common sense thesis according to which robots without "interiority" can only simulate emotions and empathy, to the extent that the affective (emotional and empathic) relationships between them and humans would not be authentic. The main thesis of our article is that empathic social robots do not need "interiority", but the ability of dynamical coordination with their social partners and the surrounding environment(s), since this ability (and not "interiority") is at the basis of human cognitive and affective (emotional and empathic) activity.

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