Y. Nakayama

The Extended Mind and the Extended Agent

November 6, 2013 Y. Nakayama

The extended mind thesis (EMT) claims that mental processes can extend beyond the brain into the environment. This paper identifies a shortcoming in the original EMT and proposes an ontological clarification using a four-dimensional ontology. By defining a notion of the extended agent based on this ontology, the authors analyze problems of EMT and clarify the relationship between the brain-centered view and the extended view. The argument suggests that a four-dimensional ontology can resolve conceptual issues in the debate, offering a more precise understanding of how cognitive processes may be distributed across brain, body, and world.