Wednesday, April 04, 2012

The Philosopher's Zone - Perspectives on Extending the Mind


This episode of The Philosopher's Zone is from a week or two ago, but it deals with the idea of the extended mind, the position that thoughts and consciousness are not confined to the individual brain. Andy Clark and David Chalmers wrote the original article on this topic, which is highly recommended for those who are not familiar with the model. Among the other extended mind theorists are Alva Noe, Susan Hurley, Robert Wilson, John Haugeland, Rupert Sheldrake, Michael Wheeler, and Mark Rowlands (to name a few).

Host Alan Saunders speaks with principle guest Robert Rupert, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who is critical of the extended mind theory. He also speaks with John Sutton and Richard Menary (editor of The Extended Mind, an excellent resource for the various models of extended mind theory), both of whom are more sympathetic to the extended mind approach.

Both Menary and Sutton appeared on a previous episode of The Philosopher's Zone in October 2010:

The Extended Mind

Broadcast: Saturday 2 October 2010
Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? Some philosophers are now arguing that thoughts are not 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 has excited a vigorous debate among philosophers and this week we discover what the fuss is about.

Show Transcript

Guests

Richard Menary: Senior lecturer and program convenor in philosophy at the University of Wollongong.
John Sutton: Professor in the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science

Publications

Title: The Extended Mind
Author: Edited by Richard Menary
Publisher: MIT Press (distributed in Australia by Footprint Books)

Credits

Presenter: Alan Saunders
Producer: Kyla Slaven
I wanted to offer the original discussion because the current one is much more critical of extended mind or extended cognition - it seems a more balanced presentation is useful (especially because I am biased in favor of extended mind models of consciousness).

Extending the mind

Broadcast: Sunday 25 March 2012

Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? Some philosophers are now arguing that thoughts are not 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 has excited a vigorous debate among philosophers and this week we discover what the fuss is about. We hear from two proponents of the extended mind thesis from one of its critics, Robert Rupert, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

Read the Transcript

Guests

Associate Professor of Philosophy Robert Rupert - Department of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Richard Menary - Senior lecturer and program convenor in philosophy at the University of Wollongong.
Dr John J Sutton - Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University

Publications

Title: The Extended Mind
Author: Edited by Richard Menary
Publisher: MIT Press (distributed in Australia by Footprint Books)

Further Information


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