The intro to Liane’s paper. Other papers in this issue explore how cognition is shaped by the social matrix in which it is embedded. In this paper the reader is invited to take a step back and consider the dynamics that emerge when cognitive agents do not just learn from one another, but ‘put their own…
Here’s an extract from the fifth article by Tarja Susi from this special Human-Human Stigmergy issue Some years ago Susi and Ziemke (2001) made a comparative analysis of social/situated theories of cognition (activity theory, situated action, and distributed cognition) and stigmergy, discussing the coordination paradox, visible in both social insects and human activities. The key elements compared were agents,…
Broadly speaking my work falls within the situated cognition or non-Cartesian wing of cognitive science. Or as I’ve put it elsewhere as the DEEEDS literature (a loose and internally fluid philosophical and empirical coalition comprising the Dynamical-, Embodied-, Extended-, Enactive-, Distributed-, and Situated- approaches to knowledge and cognition.) This said, there is no methodological profit whatsoever to…
Here is the intro and conclusion to Chris and my paper: To know is to cognize, to cognize is to be a culturally bounded, rationality-bounded and environmentally located agent. Knowledge and cognition are thus dual aspects of human sociality. If social epistemology has the formation, acquisition, mediation, transmission and dissemination of knowledge in complex communities of…
The intro to Joel’s paper: Everybody knows that time, the body and the environment are important for cognition. You would not get much thinking done if you were not in a sufficiently oxygen-rich environment or if your body did not operate so as to deliver that oxygen to your organs in just the right quantities…
Here is the intro to Matthew’s article: Where does thinking happen? The obvious and most common answer is “somewhere inside the head.” After all, this is where the brain is safely housed behind seven millimeters of protective armor. However, despite the instinctive appeal of this response, some theoretical camps have been willing to flirt with…
Eliot’s intro and first section to his paper: Human cognition mostly takes place in the context of other people. This is true in two ways. First, if we consider the immediate context of other people who are physically present, they may influence or even help constitute an individual’s cognition by providing information, agreeing or disagreeing,…
Here is the fully published special issue of Cognitive Systems Research Volume 9, Issues 1-2, March 2008 2. Introduction to the special issue “Perspectives on Social Cognition” Cognitive Systems Research, Volume 9, Issues 1-2, March 2008, Pages 1-4 Leslie Marsh and Christian Onof 3. Functionalism and mental boundaries Cognitive Systems Research, Volume 9, Issues…
Special Issue of Cognitive Systems Research – Perspectives on Social Cognition Some papers are now available as pre-press versions. 1. Introduction to Perspectives on Social Cognition – Leslie Marsh & Christian Onof 2. Functionalism and mental boundaries – Lawrence Shapiro 3. Consciousness and the social mind – Philip Robbins 4. Social relationships and groups: New…
Here is the opening paragraph to Vernon’s Foreward to Propriety and Prosperity. I would urge anyone interested in situated cognition to read his superb Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms, amazingly an unknown work within situated circles, proponent or critic. Also worth a read is Vernon’s memoir. This book is a welcome addition to the resurgent scholarly…
manwithoutqualities 