Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind surveys philosophical
issues raised by the situated movement in cognitive science, that
is, the treatment of cognitive phenomena as the joint products of
brain, body, and environment. The book focuses primarily on the
hypothesis of extended cognition, which asserts that human
cognitive processes literally comprise elements beyond the boundary
of the human organism. Rupert argues that the only plausible way in
which to demarcate cognitions is systems-based: cognitive states or
processes are the states of the integrated set of mechanisms and
capacities that contribute causally and distinctively to the
production of cognitive phenomena--for example, language-use,
memory, decision-making, theory construction, and, more
importantly, the associated forms of behavior. Rupert argues that
this integrated system is most likely to appear within the
boundaries of the human organism. He argues that the systems-based
view explains the existing successes of cognitive psychology and
cognate fields in a way that extended conceptions of cognition do
not, and that once the systems-based view has been adopted, it is
especially clear how extant arguments in support of the extended
view go wrong.
Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind also examines further
aspects of the situated program in cognitive science, including the
embedded and embodied approaches to cognition. Rupert asks to what
extent the plausible incarnations of these situated views depart
from orthodox, computational cognitive science. Here, Rupert
focuses on the notions of representation and computation, arguing
that the embedded and embodied views do not constitute the radical
shifts in perspective they are often claimed to be. Rupert also
argues that, properly understood, the embodied view does not offer
a new role for the body, different in principle from the one
presupposed by orthodox cognitive science.
"Rupert's book is a good read. It is a sustained, systematic,
critical examination of the idea that minds are not simply
ensconced inside heads, but extend into both bodies and the world
beyond the body.... There is much to admire in this book. It is
well-structured and well-written, adopting a self-consciously
naturalistic perspective on how to understand the mind -- through
our best, even if imperfect, empirical sciences in the domain of
cognition. By presenting and critiquing a number of explicit
arguments for and against the specific views that Rupert considers,
Cognitive Systems advances the field."-- Notre Dame Philosophical
Reviews
"Rupert's treatment is a state of the art sustained attack on
various forms of the 'extended mind hypothesis'. It is rigorous and
challenging, and will be of interest to a quite a large audience of
researchers (graduates and above) in philosophy and in cognitive
science. Rupert studiously avoids the 'straw men' that populate
some recent critiques, and raises deep and sympathetic challenges
that go to the core of the program."
--Andy Clark, Department of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh
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