A branching Socratic dialogue — navigate the key debates in Clark & Chalmers
Core concepts in play
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Extended Mind Thesis (EMT) — Clark & Chalmers (1998): cognitive processes are not confined to the brain. When an external resource plays the right functional role, it is literally part of the mind.
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Parity Principle — If an external process did what a brain process does, and we would count the brain process as cognitive, we should count the external process as cognitive too.
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Otto and Inga — Inga uses biological memory to recall a museum address. Otto, who has Alzheimer's, uses a notebook. Clark & Chalmers argue Otto's notebook is part of his memory — and therefore part of his mind.
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Coupling-Constitution Fallacy — A key objection: just because the brain is coupled to an external tool does not mean the tool is constitutively part of the mind. Causation is not constitution.
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Extended Emotions — Krueger & Szanto extend the thesis: social environments and other people can be partly constitutive of emotional states, not just influences on them.
Choose a question to explore:
✍ Reflect for your Online Selves project
Clark & Chalmers argue that the boundary of the mind is wherever cognition stops — and for modern people, that boundary extends through our devices into our social networks. Looking at your own online habits: which of your digital tools (apps, feeds, search engines, notes) would you say are genuinely part of your extended cognitive system? Which are merely tools you use? What's the difference?