Browsing by Subject "extended mind"

There is apparent dualism in the internalist philosophy of mind, where a division is made between the mind and the world. In classic Cartesian dualism, the division between the mind and the world is made by separating the mind and the body from each other. Aim of this thesis was to parallelize the results and theories of neuroscience and psychology with externalist philosophy of mind. Externalist philosophy of mind poses a question to the more classical views whether an internalist and brain bound perspective is enough to explain the mind. According to the radical interpretations of externalism the mind builds on the factors of the environment, or even emerges from the relationship between man and the world. According to more moderate interpretations the relationship between mind and the world is only interactive. Externalism has also been used as a research framework for other sciences. For example, linguists Lakoff and Johnson proposed that language evolves from embodiment to abstraction. Example of this sort of development is the word “language” itself which originates from Old Latin word (lingua) meaning the tongue. The 4E –model of externalism as defined by Shaun Gallagher is used in this thesis as a framework of inquiry. The model partitions externalist theories in to four categories. The mind is embodied because mental states are affected not only by the brain, but by the states of the body as well. The mind is embedded because the mind needs an environment to function. The mind is enacted because it’s active and adapts to the environment. The mind is also extended because it’s not bound only to neural processes. The thesis progresses by covering the phenomena of neuroscience and psychology partitioned in classes defined by the 4E –model. Models addressed in the context of enactivism are cyclical by nature. Classical example of cyclical model in the field of psychology is perceptual cycle by Ulrich Neisser. A similar theme is present in Friston’s and Kiebel’s model of predictive coding. Motif’s related to embodiment have been long present in the form of for example James-Lange theory and nowadays in “The Somatic Marker Hypothesis” by Antonio Damasio. Theory of Embodied Cognition is likewise discussed in the part dealing with embodiment. Extended mind refers to the significance which objects outside of the skull can possess in relation to cognition. Another human can also be relevant to cognition, of which a traditional example is Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development. Mirror neurons, empathy and social neuroscience will all be covered in the extended mind chapter. Themes present in the embeddedness partition are cultural. Theory of mind, perception of time and existential questions are intertwined with our cultural environment. Applications of externalist paradigm go from mobile mental health services, experience of art, evolutionary psychology and semantic memory to transcultural perspectives, artificial intelligence and existential questions. Wrapped up in to one definition the aim of externalist research of the mind is to probe the interface between man and the world.