✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

The Extended Mind

consc.net · 6,742 words · saved by 1 readers

[[Published in Analysis 58:10-23, 1998. Reprinted in (P. Grim, ed) The Philosopher's Annual, vol XXI, 1998.]] Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? The question invites two standard replies. Some accept the demarcations of skin and skull, and say that what is outside the body is outside the mind. Others are impressed by arguments suggesting that the meaning of our words "just ain't in the head", and hold that this externalism about meaning carries over into an externalism about mind. We propose to pursue a third position. We advocate a very different sort of externalism: an active externalism, based on the active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes. Consider three cases of human problem-solving: (1) A person sits in front of a computer screen which displays images of various two-dimensional geometric shapes and is asked to answer questions concerning the potential fit of such shapes into depicted "sockets". To assess fit, the person must mentally

The Extended Mind The Extended Mind Andy Clark &amp David J. Chalmers [*] Department of Philosophy Washington University St. Louis, MO 63130 Department of Philosophy University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 andy@twinearth.wustl.edu chalmers@arizona.edu *[[ Authors are listed in order of degree of belief in the central thesis. ]] [[ Published in Analysis 58:10-23, 1998. Reprinted in (P. Grim, ed) The Philosopher's Annual , vol XXI, 1998. ]] 1 Introduction Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? The question invites two standard replies. Some accept the demarcations of skin and s

Explore this link on the map →

related reading