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Materializing Mind: The Role of Objects in Cognition and Culture

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Perspectives on Social Ontology and Social Cognition

Part of the book series: Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality ((SIPS,volume 4))

Abstract

If mind is investigated as the set of interactions that accomplish a cognitive task, that is, if mind is more than that which occurs inside the head, then how does the interplay of biological and environmental resources produce human cognition? Informed by active externalism, joint action, and distributed cognition, we review and classify a set of cognitive processes mediated by material representations. Specifically, we ask how—in a range of everyday cognitive and cultural practices—we employ objects (1) to scaffold memory, (2) to alter cognitive complexity, (3) to facilitate epistemic experimentation, (4) to enable the division of cognitive labor, (5) to promote confidence and trust, (6) to consolidate social structure, and (7) to support dialogical coupling. We conclude that through cultural practices the stable, “manipulable”, and public properties of objects have come to afford unprecedented modes of extended and distributed cognition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kristian Tylén & John J. McGraw

Authors
  1. Kristian Tylén
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  2. John J. McGraw
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Correspondence to Kristian Tylén .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Advanced Study, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Mattia Gallotti

  2. Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    John Michael

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Tylén, K., McGraw, J.J. (2014). Materializing Mind: The Role of Objects in Cognition and Culture. In: Gallotti, M., Michael, J. (eds) Perspectives on Social Ontology and Social Cognition. Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9147-2_10

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