Philosophy of Mind is the branch of analytic philosophy that studies (you've guessed it) the mind.
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The Extended Mind |
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Friday, 08 December 2006 |
 Where is the mind located?
Katherine Power introduces the extended mind theory, the subject matter of her short story The Notebook (and of her MPhil). A common view amongst philosophers of mind is that mental states are 'physically realised'. This means that, if I believe that Magritte was a painter, there is something physical in the world which makes up that belief. Let's say the belief is realised by a neural pattern of activation in my brain. If we took that pattern away, and did not replace it with another physical state serving the same role, I would no longer believe that Magritte was a painter. If you agree so far, you might ask what kind of physical states realise mental ones. Do they have to be brain states? Not according to Andy Clark and David Chalmers. In their 1998 paper "The Extended Mind" they argue that mental phenomena can be realised outside the skull. To convince us, they compare an ordinary case of belief with a case where an external object, a notebook, plays a crucial role. Clark and Chalmers argue that the differences between the two cases are superficial and, therefore, that they are both cases of belief.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 December 2006 )
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