Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism
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Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK
2015
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1438280650 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ouhonors14382806502021-08-03T06:32:33Z Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism Miller, Jamie M. Philosophy Cognitive Psychology personal identity psychological criterion extended mind active externalism situated cognition distributed cognition derek parfit parfitian reductionism edwin hutchins andy clark social media peter unger replication teleportation This thesis uses recent developments in cognitive science, namely the extended mind hypothesis and studies of situated cognition, to argue that personal identity is a metaphysically robust concept that cannot be reduced to biological facts about bodies and brains. This position stands in stark contrast to the reductionist account famously put forth by Derek Parfit. If the brain is best understood as necessitating complex feedback loops within a dynamic cultural environment—if the functional mind extends beyond the body’s metabolic borders—then we must take the role of culture in human cognition seriously. This has direct implications for the psychological criterion for identity. I believe our recent adoption of smart phone technologies, especially vis-a-vis social media, only emphasizes this tendency for cognitive processes to reach beyond the brain, and to take our identity with them. Hence this paper is an attempt to reassert culture’s importance in human personhood. We are inherently social creatures, and our identities each fundamentally depend upon a unique social scaffolding that cannot easily be replaced or replicated. 2015-08-27 English text Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1438280650 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1438280650 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Philosophy Cognitive Psychology personal identity psychological criterion extended mind active externalism situated cognition distributed cognition derek parfit parfitian reductionism edwin hutchins andy clark social media peter unger replication teleportation |
| spellingShingle |
Philosophy Cognitive Psychology personal identity psychological criterion extended mind active externalism situated cognition distributed cognition derek parfit parfitian reductionism edwin hutchins andy clark social media peter unger replication teleportation Miller, Jamie M. Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| author |
Miller, Jamie M. |
| author_facet |
Miller, Jamie M. |
| author_sort |
Miller, Jamie M. |
| title |
Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| title_short |
Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| title_full |
Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| title_fullStr |
Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Personal Identity and the Extended Mind: A Critique of Parfitian Reductionism |
| title_sort |
personal identity and the extended mind: a critique of parfitian reductionism |
| publisher |
Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1438280650 |
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AT millerjamiem personalidentityandtheextendedmindacritiqueofparfitianreductionism |
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