Distributed cognition, neuroprostheses and their implications to non-physicalist theories of mind
Abstract
This paper investigates the notion of ‘distributed cognition’—the idea that entities external to one’s organic brain participate in one’s overall cognitive functioning—and the challenges it poses to the notion of personhood. Related to this is also a consideration of the ever-increasing ways in which neuroprostheses replace and functionally replicate organic parts of the brain. However, the literature surrounding such issues has tended to take an almost exclusively physicalist approach. The common assumption is that, given that non-physicalist theories (chiefly, dualism, and hylomorphism) postulate some form of immaterial ‘soul’, then they are immune from the challenges that these advances in cognitive science pose. The first aim of this paper, therefore, is to argue that this is not the case. The second aim of this paper is to attempt to elucidate a route available for the non-physicalists that will allow them to accept the notion of distributed cognition. By appealing to an Aristotelian framework, I propose that the non-physicalist can accept the notion of distributed cognition by appealing to the notion of ‘unitary life’ which I introduce, as well as to Aristotle’s dichotomy between active and passive mind.
Citation
Gové , J 2021 , ' Distributed cognition, neuroprostheses and their implications to non-physicalist theories of mind ' , Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy , vol. 26 , no. 1 , 8 , pp. 123-142 . https://doi.org/10.35765/forphil.2021.2601.08
Publication
Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1426-1898Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright The Author(s) 2021. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed.
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