Extending the Extended Mind to the Philosophy of Mathematics

4E, active externalism, active perception, Andy Clark, Casey Rufener, cognition, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, david chalmers, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, embodied cognition, embodiment, enactivism, epistemology, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, externalism, four-color-problem, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, Res Cogitans

Here’s a paper I chanced upon. The full title: “The Four-Color Theorem Solved, Again: Extending the Extended Mind to the Philosophy of Mathematics” (I’ve just noticed that Ken Aizawa has already beat me to the punch!).

David Colman

brain, brain science, consciousness, david colman, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, neural correlates, neural networks, neurobiology, neuron, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, Wilder Penfield

David Colman – a great loss.

A favourite message turned on the belief that science moves forward most significantly and dramatically as a result of “undirected, non-targeted, curiosity-driven research.”

McGill obituary

Globe & Mail obituary

Rob Haskell Remembered

philosophy of psychology, psychology, robert haskell

Today marks the first anniversary of the death of my chum Rob Haskell. Here is an obituary I posted earlier this year and a briefer one published on the UNE website.

Raised along the mid-Maine coast he loved, he combined in his own personality the rugged solitude, beauty, and magnetism of that state: he was first and always a scholar of the solitary cut who nonetheless commanded the attention and esteem of his colleagues.

“Extending” the mind via Google

betsy sparrow, cognitive science, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, extended mind, externalism, memory, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, stigmergy, transactive memory

Here are two articles from Science:

“Searching for the Google Effect on People’s Memory“

“Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips“

Betsy Sparrow is interviewed here.

The Brain on Trial

evidence, evidence and law, fMRI, freewill, genetics, neurobiology, neuroscience, robert sapolsky

Here’s an article in The Atlantic.

Neuroscience is beginning to touch on questions that were once only in the domain of philosophers and psychologists, questions about how people make decisions and the degree to which those decisions are truly “free.” These are not idle questions. Ultimately, they will shape the future of legal theory and create a more biologically informed jurisprudence.

Enaction: An Interview with Ezequiel Di Paolo

4E, cognitive science, Embedded, embodied cognition, embodiment, Enacted, enaction, enactivism, ezequiel di paolo, functionalism, philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology

Here is an interview posted on the eclectic APPS bog. Ezequiel is one of the main current players in enactivist theory and has a recently published (edited) book out that I’ve been reading. Enactivism is a position I’m quite sympathetic to though I’m sceptical of “new paradigm” talk.

Steve Pyke Talks About His Work

philosophy, steve pyke

The wonderfully talented photographic portraitist Steve Pyke talks about how he came to photographing philosophers. A fascinating project that seemed to emerge. I guess it took someone like Pyke who wasn’t familiar with their work not to be dazzled. He talks about his editorial background and editing sensibility. Click here for the half hour programme. I very much like this shot of Hampshire who he talks about:

Stuart Hampshire, Oxford, 5 July 1990

Truth, Existence, Knowledge, Causality, Identity, Goodness: these are the principal notions which philosophers examine. Intelligent persons normally have thoughtful and useful lives without pausing to look into these notions and into the connections between them. Once one starts to look into them, it is difficult to stop. The looking becomes part of life, and in some cases a large part.

Here is a photo of Pyke himself and a link to his Wikipedia page.