Surrealism, Chance and the Extended Mind
Distributed Cognition in Victorian Culture and Modernism September 1, 2020 DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474442244.003.0010 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe Surrealists used techniques such as automatic drawing, exquisite corpse, collage, frottage, and decalcomania to bypass conscious thought and artistic skill, aiming to access the unconscious mind as defined by Freud. Their practice of 'objective chance' reflected a belief that unconscious truths could only be reached indirectly. This chapter interprets these methods through theories of distributed cognition, enactivism, embodiment, and the extended mind, linking the Surrealists' search for universal truth to the philosophical question of where the mind ends and the world begins.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Argues that Surrealist techniques can be interpreted as attempts to explore the boundaries of the mind, aligning with theories of the extended mind and distributed cognition. |
Abstract
This chapter discusses how the Surrealists engaged with techniques like automatic drawing, the exquisite corpse, collage, frottage and decalcomania, and how this might be interpreted in the context of theories of distributed cognition, enactivism, embodiment, and the extended mind. The Surrealists’ use of ‘objective chance’ was driven by a belief in the existence of an unconscious state of mind which could only be accessed obliquely, by using techniques which bypassed both artistic skill and conscious thought. ‘Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?’. This question is posed by Clark and Chalmers (1998) as an introduction to the concept of the extended mind, but it could just as well be the very question the Surrealists were trying to address in their search for a universal truth, the key to which they believed to be the unconscious mind as defined by Freud.