GFPJ Department Colloquium Philosophical Perspectives on Intentionality. Speakers: Zed Adams, James Dodds, Omri Boehm February 2, 2012

GFPJ Department Colloquium Philosophical Perspectives on Intentionality.Speakers: Zed Adams, James Dodds, Omri Boehm

Thursday, February 02, 2012 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Title: Giving a Damn

Co-authors: Zed Adams and Chauncey Maher

Abstract:

Many of us have a peculiarly intimate relationship with our iPhones. We bring them everywhere, all the time, and they play an essential role in how we navigate our environment, communicate with others, remember our experiences, and plan for the future.

This and examples like it have been taken by many philosophers and cognitive scientists to illustrate the extended mind hypothesis (hereafter EMH). According to EMH, the human mind is a tightly coupled system that extends beyond the human body to include external, worldly things, such as our iPhones.

Many people are unmoved by such examples. Fred Adams and Ken Aizawa (hereafter A&A) allege that not all coupling is constitution; to think otherwise is to commit the “coupling-constitution fallacy.”

In this essay, we explain why the master argument for EMH does not commit such a fallacy. But we admit that there is an important question lurking behind A&A’s allegation: under what conditions is cognition spread across a tightly coupled system? Building on some suggestions from John Haugeland, one of the originators of EMH, we contend that the system must exhibit a distinctive sort of semantic activity, semantic activity that the system as a whole takes responsibility for.

For instance: (Haugeland, 1995), (Clark, 1997), (Clark & Chalmers, 1998) (Clark, 2008), (Hurley, 1998), (Rowlands, 1999), (Noe, 2004), (Wilson R. , 2004), (Shapiro, 2011).
For instance: (Adams & Aizawa, 2001), (Grush, 2003), (Rupert, 2004), and (Fodor, 2009).

For instance: (Adams & Aizawa, 2001), (Adams & Aizawa, 2008) (Adams & Aizawa, 2010a), and (Adams & Aizawa, 2010b).

For instance: (Fisher, 2009), (Walter & Kyselo, 2009), (Wilson R. A., 2010).

Clark may be the most prominent advocate of EMH, but he clearly acknowledges the influence of (Haugeland, 1995) on his view. See (Clark, 2008a, pp. 37-38); (Clark, 2008b, pp. xxvi-xxvii).
Location:

6 E 16 St Room D1103

Admission:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

Official Website: http://www.newschool.edu/NSSR/eventsList.aspx?id=77693&DeptFilter=NSSR+Philosophy