Collective memory, group minds, and the extended mind thesis.
Cognitive processing December 1, 2005 Robert A Wilson
Memory is typically seen as an individual capacity in cognitive science but as a collective phenomenon in the social sciences, where it appears in accounts of nationalism, ritual, and commemoration. These appeals share the idea that memory "goes beyond the individual" but often conflate different claims. This paper reviews recent work on collective memory in light of externalist views in cognitive science and broader traditions that treat groups as having minds. It concludes by considering how such cognitive metaphors in the social sciences relate to the concept of agency.