Tradition
Externalism
Overview
Externalism is a group of positions in the philosophy of mind which argues that the conscious mind is not only the result of what is going on inside the nervous system (or the brain), but also what occurs or exists outside the subject. It is contrasted with internalism which holds that the mind emerges from neural activity alone. Externalism is a belief that the mind is not just the brain or functions of the brain.
There are different versions of externalism based on different beliefs about what the mind is taken to be. Externalism stresses factors external to the nervous system. At one extreme, the mind could possibly depend on external factors. At the opposite extreme, the mind necessarily depends on external factors. The extreme view of externalism argues either that the mind is constituted by or identical with processes partially or totally external to the nervous system.
Another important criterion in externalist theory is to which aspect of the mind is addressed. Some externalists focus on cognitive aspects of the mind – such as Andy Clark and David Chalmers, Shaun Gallagher and many others – while others engage either the phenomenal aspect of the mind or the conscious mind itself. Several philosophers consider the conscious phenomenal content and activity, such as William Lycan, Alex Byrne or Francois Tonneau; Teed Rockwell or Riccardo Manzotti.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
He sets the agent, as he is found in the intimacy of love or appreciation, over against the externality of the fact, as that is defined within the reflective process. He takes the material which thought selects as its own basis for further procedure to be identical with the significant content which it secures for itself in the successful pursuit of its aim; and this in turn he regards as the material which was…
John Dewey, Studies in Logical Theory
States what Externalism is; the author is tied to Externalism in the knowledge graph.
But with the rise of mind in nature the bond of externalism is implicitly overcome. To it, and where it really is, there is nothing outside, nothing transcendent.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Philosophy of Mind
States what Externalism is; names Externalism.
This perception, they say, is an _act_ of the mind, proceeding from its own spontaneous activity; while in a sensation the mind is passive, being merely acted upon by the outward object. And according to some metaphysicians, it is by an act of the mind, similar to perception, except in not being preceded by any sensation, that the existence of God, the soul, and other hyper-physical objects is recognised. These acts…
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic
States what Externalism is.
Philosophers who discussed Externalism
Related ideas
- Christof Koch
- Eleanor Rosch
- Internalism and externalism
- John Dewey
- Twin Earth thought experiment
- Mind–body dualism
- Intentionality
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty
- Frank Cameron Jackson
- Qualia
- Nervous system
- David Chalmers
- Fred Dretske
- Semantics
- Semantic externalism
- Embodied cognition
- Supervenience
- Brain
- Phenomenon
- Shaun Gallagher
- Andy Clark
- Philosophy of mind
- Enactivism
- Hilary Putnam
Place in the tradition
Part of Foundationalism.