Cognitive Spread: Under What Conditions Does the Mind Extend Beyond the Body?

Abstract

The extended mind hypothesis (EMH) is the claim that the mind can and does extend beyond the human body. Adams and Aizawa (A&A) contend that arguments for EMH commit a ‘coupling constitution fallacy’. We deny that the master argument for EMH commits such a fallacy. But we think that there is an important question lurking behind A&A's allegation: under what conditions is cognition spread across a tightly coupled system? Building on some suggestions from Haugeland, we contend that the system must exhibit a distinctive sort of semantic activity, semantic activity that the system as a whole takes responsibility for.

Constancy Mechanisms and the Normativity of Perception

“…We ourselves think that constancy mechanisms are often parts of representational systems. We describe the conditions under which this is the case in Adams and Maher (2012). agree with Burge that genuine representational systems must make room for the possibility of misrepresentation.…”