What I cannot do without you. Towards a truly embedded and embodied account of the socially extended mind

The paper proposes a new principle—the "not possible without" principle—to replace the social parity principle in debates about the socially extended mind. It argues that the social parity principle, which treats socially achieved results as functionally equivalent to solitary investigation, is reductionist and overlooks the existential significance of social interaction. The alternative principle holds that certain cognitive achievements would be impossible without genuine social interaction between agents with specific existential needs. This reframes socially extended cognition as grounded in real-life, affectively charged, embodied experiences, leading to a more embedded and embodied account of the socially extended mind.

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Abstract

Through a discussion of the socially extended mind, this paper advances the “not possible without principle” as an alternative to the social parity principle. By charging the social parity principle with reductionism about the social dimension of socially extended processes, the paper offers a new argumentative strategy for the socially extended mind that stresses its existential significance. The “not possible without principle” shows that not only is something more achieved through socially located processes of knowledge building, but also that, and more importantly, what is achieved is something that would not have been possible without social interaction . The social parity principle states that the result of an activity achieved via social interaction should be assumed functionally equivalent to a solitary investigation and is characterized by multiple realisability. Contrary to the social parity principle, the “not possible without principle” holds that the result would not have been achieved without the social interaction between (at least) two agents with specific existential needs. The socially extended mind never happens in a void. This means that the "not possible without" principle should be located in real-life, affectively charged, embodied experiences of skilful interactions between agents. This fundamental conceptual change via reference to the “existential necessity” that regulates socially extended processes is necessary in order to effectively lead the socially extended mind to a truly embedded and embodied account.