Leading scholars respond to the famous proposition by Andy Clark and David Chalmers that cognition and mind are not located exclusively in the head.
Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? In their famous 1998 paper "The Extended Mind," philosophers Andy Clark and David J. Chalmers posed this question and answered it provocatively: cognitive processes "ain't all in the head." The environment has an active role in driving cognition; cognition is sometimes made up of neural, bodily, and environmental processes. Their argument excited a vigorous debate among philosophers, both supporters and detractors. This volume brings together for the first time the best responses to Clark and Chalmers's bold proposal. These responses, together with the original paper by Clark and Chalmers, offer a valuable overview of the latest research on the extended mind thesis.
The contributors first discuss (and answer) objections raised to Clark and Chalmers's thesis. Clark himself responds to critics in an essay that uses the movie Memento's amnesia-aiding notes and tattoos to illustrate the workings of the extended mind. Contributors then consider the different directions in which the extended mind project might be taken, including the need for an approach that focuses on cognitive activity and practice.
Richard Menary is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Wollongong. He is the author of Cognitive Integration and other books.
Andy Clark is Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex.
Andy Clark is Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex.
Andy Clark is Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex.
Susan Hurley is Professor at the University of Warwick, and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Don Ross is Professor of Economics and Dean of Commerce at the University of Cape Town, and Research Fellow in the Center for Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University. He is the author of
Economic Theory and Cognitive Science: Microexplanation (MIT Press, 2005), companion volume to
Midbrain Mutiny. Robert A. Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at La Trobe University, the author of
Genes and the Agents of Life, and coeditor of
The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences and of E
xplanation and Cognition (MIT Press). He directed the project that built EugenicsArchive.ca and is a director and the executive producer of the documentary
Surviving Eugenics. John Sutton is Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics.
Richard Menary is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Wollongong. He is the author of
Cognitive Integration and other books.
Michael Wheeler is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Stirling. He is the author of
Reconstructing the Cognitive World: The Next Step (MIT Press, 2005).
Mark Rowlands is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami. He is the author of
The Body in Mind: Understanding Cognitive Processes, Body Language: Representation in Action (MIT Press, 2006),
The Philosopher and the Wolf, and other books.
David Spurrett is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Cognitive Science Program at the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
