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.
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cognition, cognitive science, duncan prichard, epistemic luck, epistemic virtue, epistemology, extended mind, externalism, philosophy of mind, social epistemology | 
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Posted by manwithoutqualities
August 22, 2010
I shall disclaim responsibility for this particular choice of terms. The phrase “artificial intelligence,” which led me to it, was coined, I think, right on the Charles River, at MIT. Our own research group at Rand and Carnegie Mellon University have prefered phrases like “complex information processing” and “simulation of cognitive processes.” But then we run into new terminological difficulties, for the dictionary also says that “to simulate” means “to assume or have the mere appearance or form of, without the reality; to imitate; counterfeit; pretend.” At any rate, “artificial intelligence” seems to be here to stay, and it may prove easier to cleanse the phrase than to dispense with it. In time it will become sufficiently idiomatic that it will no longer be the target of cheap rhetoric.
Herbert Simon 1996
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Posted by manwithoutqualities
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.
Comments Off | Andy Clark, Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind, Fred Adams, Georg Theiner, Ken Aizawa, Matthew Barker, Nivedita Gangopadhyay, Zoe Drayson, active externalism, active perception, cognition, cognitive systems, cognitive systems research, colin allen, consciousness, dan weiskopf, david chalmers, philosophy of mind, philosophy of social science, robert goldstone, robert rupert | Permalink
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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.
Comments Off | cognition, cognition in the wild, cognitive anthropology, cognitive closure, cognitive science, cognitive systems, consciousness, cybernetics, cyborgs, philosophy of mind | Permalink
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August 13, 2010
I recently had the honor and good fortune to be on the same panel as neuroscientist Joaquin Fuster. We had been in correspondence over the years: the intellectual generosity of this man, one of the giants in the field, knows no bounds. I was thrilled to finally meet him in person. Below are some shots of him in full flight – his talk was entitled “Frederick Hayek’s Theory of Mind and Human Cognition.” (As co-panelist I was pitching Hayek as an extended mind theorist of sorts). Here is a lecture of Joaquin’s entitled “Distributed Memory and the Perception-Action Cycle” that is not far removed from his talk in San Diego. Here are some highlights from a recent lecture entitled “The brain is a search engine.”
In conversation with Roland Zahn, another fascinating mind.
Dinner with yours truly.
Comments Off | cognitive science, connectionism, consciousness, cybernetics, hayek, joaquin fuster, memory, networks, neurobiology, neuron, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, the sensory order | Permalink
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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.
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August 11, 2010
The latest issue of JMB is now available. The pieces that will particularly interest my constituency are:
(1) The Boundaries Still Stand: A Reply to Fisher by Kenneth Aizawa, and
(2) A Critical Notice of Radical Embodied Cognitive Science by Anthony Chemero, reviewed by Rick Dale.
Comments Off | Anthony Chimero, Bounds of Cognition, Fred Adams, Justin Fisher, Ken Aizawa, Rick Dale, cognitive science, embodiment, extended mind, externalism, philosophy of mind, radical embodied cognition | Permalink
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July 30, 2010
Thanks to this blog here is a five-part discussion between the wonderful Gilbert Ryle and James Urmson. (I notice from the Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy entry on Ryle that J.D. Mabbott must have known Ryle very well. Mabbott and Oakeshott were of course intellectual chums. According to Bob Grant, Oakeshott only ever communicated with two “official” philosophers, one of which was Ryle. On record, Oakeshott very favorably reviewed Ryle’s Concept of Mind, entitled “Body and Mind” in the Spectator. Years later he warmly introduced Ryle who delivered the annual LSE August Comte Memorial Lecture on 26 April, 1962 entitled “A Rational Animal”. Mabbott who read the proofs for On Human Conduct happened to be a member of Ryle’s “Wee Teas” philosophical tea parties (Tony Quinton told me that he himself was one of the more junior members) was the first to recognize Oakeshott’s KH/KT connection with Ryle in his review of Rationalism in politics in Mind.
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July 17, 2010
(1938-2010)
My friend and colleague Robert Haskell passed away today. Rob was a very gentle, kind and generous man, a man with simple tastes but a man with immense philosophical sophistication. An example of his philosophical breadth and depth is his last published paper “The Access Paradox in Analogical Reasoning and Transfer: Whither Invariance?” Journal of Mind and Behavior (Vol.30 Nos. 1 and 2 Winter and Spring 2009). He will be sadly missed.
Below is a photo of Rob (far right, the usual scowl belying his gentle nature) at a reception for Ruth Millikan at NEI in April of 2008 – David Livingstone Smith, Rob’s longtime colleague and friend is on the far left. As and when more details are available from others on Rob’s work and life, and I have had a chance to reflect on his work, I will update this post.
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