Lecture 6

Question 1

frankenstein hypothesis

Answer 1

according to the brain-centered views of the mind, we don’t need to take the non-brain parts of the organism and environment into account

Question 2

ways to challenge frankenstein’s hypothesis

Answer 2

1. comes from those who defended the embodied and embedded theory of mind: the non-brain parts of the body and aspects of the environment can be used to solve cognitive problems
2. extended-mind hypothesis: parts of the brain and the environment are not only used to solve cognitive problems, but they belong to the cognitive mind

Question 3

biological cognition

Answer 3

the evolved ability of an organism to solve problems that came upon it by the environment

Question 4

theoretical knowledge

Answer 4

knowledge that describes rules about how something should be carried out

Question 5

practical knowledge

Answer 5

the skill needed to carry something out

Question 6

cognition

Answer 6

ability to solve problems, using practical or theoretical knowledge

Question 7

the embodied and embedded view of the mind

Answer 7

proposed that biological organisms actually use their brains, bodies, and the outside world to do what, in the classical cognitivist view, is only inside the artificial brain
- doesn’t see this as 3 separate processes: the entire organism is studied on how it deals with problems in its environment

Question 8

embodied cognition

Answer 8

that the cognitive capacities of an organism are determined or strongly influenced by the type of body the organism has

Question 9

embedded cognition

Answer 9

that the cognitive capacities of an organism are determined or strongly influenced by the environment in which the organism lives

Question 10

epistemic action

Answer 10

actions that change the environment in such a way that they help cognitive processes

Question 11

reductio ad absurdum

Answer 11

a way of reasoning by accepting a certain claim and then demonstrating that something absurd is the result

Question 12

conclusion

Answer 12

consciousness and cognition are dependent on the body and the environment of the organism: the mind is embodied and embedded
- Frankenstein hypothesis is false

Question 13

non-mental cognition

Answer 13

we can have cognitive capacities that are not conscious. this means that cognitive states can either be mental or non-mental
- cognition belonging to the mind can still be characterized as being about something. intentionality may not be a property of cognition in general

Question 14

extended mind

Answer 14

Andy Clark and David Chalmers argued that the cognitive mind does not stop where the brain and body stop, but that the mind extends into the world

Question 15

4 criteria of extended mind

Answer 15

• parity principle
• the external system belongs to a person’s cognitive mind only when it is reliably available and typically invoked
• the information is trustworthy
• the information is easily accessible