Cognitive ability and the extended cognition thesis

September 1, 2010

Here’s a just published paper by Duncan Pritchard in Synthese. It’s reassuring to see epistemologists picking up on the extended mind thesis – the other notable epistemologist pursuing this line is Sandy Goldberg. This is the way things are going – I for one am working on a project that will be a major push in this direction. As I’ve recently said, “ it is clear that the notion of extended mind has made inroads into other domains . . epistemologists who view mind and epistemology as two sides to the same coin and are engaged in the project to “cognitivize epistemology” and “socialize the mind” (Goldberg, 2007; Marsh & Onof, 2008b; Prichard, in press).”

Duncan’s Abstract

This paper explores the ramifications of the extended cognition thesis in the philosophy of mind for contemporary epistemology. In particular, it argues that all theories of knowledge need to accommodate the ability intuition that knowledge involves cognitive ability, but that once this requirement is understood correctly there is no reason why one could not have a conception of cognitive ability that was consistent with the extended cognition thesis. There is thus, surprisingly, a straightforward way of developing our current thinking about knowledge such that it incorporates the extended cognition thesis.


Grayling on neurophilosophy

August 25, 2010

Here’s a brief view of neurophilosophy from Anthony Grayling in The Philosopher’s Magazine.


Extended Mind – Themed Issue of CSR

August 18, 2010

The full and sequential lineup of this special issue of CSR is now available as Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 311-408 (December 2010). Thanks to all – the contributors and the Elsevier type-setting team for making this such a smooth experience.


Cognition in the Wild

August 16, 2010

Here’s a report in The New York Times

It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.


Timothy Williamson in the NYT

August 16, 2010

Here’s a Timothy Williamson piece in the NYT.

Constraining imagination by knowledge does not make it redundant. We rarely know an explicit formula that tells us what to do in a complex situation. We have to work out what to do by thinking through the possibilities in ways that are simultaneously imaginative and realistic, and not less imaginative when more realistic. Knowledge, far from limiting imagination, enables it to serve its central function.


Shapiro’s Embodied Cognition

August 11, 2010

Larry Shapiro’s book Embodied Cognition has just been published. Anything by Larry is well worth a read. This book comes with dust jacket recommendations from no less than heavy hitters such as Fred Adams, Arthur Glenberg, Rob Wilson, Elliott Sober and Ken Aizawa. If you haven’t already done so, check out his excellent The Mind Incarnate.


Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind

July 3, 2010

Here’s a draft of a review by Andreas Elpidorou to appear in Minds and Machines of Rob Rupert’s Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind.


“Extended Mind” in Key Terms

June 25, 2010

Over at Brain Hammer Peter Mandik has posted his entry on Extended Mind from his Key Terms in Philosophy of Mind.


Why is consciousness so mysterious?

June 17, 2010

A nice chat with Dave Chalmers on this topic.


Morality and the Emotional Brain

May 18, 2010

Shaun Nichols delivers a recent lecture.