Critical Note
Andreas Roepstorff, Tobias Starzak
The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition October 9, 2018 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198735410.013.42
Summary
Taking an evolutionary perspective on 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended) reveals how cognition is shaped by cultural and biological processes across historical and evolutionary time. The four papers argue that focusing too narrowly on abstract representations overlooks the basic mechanisms that support and drive cognition. To understand these mechanisms, we must examine how cognitive processes are not only embodied and extended but also shaped, transmitted, and diversified through group formation.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Understanding cognition requires examining its evolutionary and group-level dynamics, not just abstract representations. |
Abstract
Abstract How can approaching the topic of 4E cognition from an evolutionary perspective shed light on aspects of cultural and biological evolution, the nature of cognition in general, and of human nature in particular? The four papers in this section offer a temporal analysis that puts cognition into a context of larger processes that span historical and indeed evolutionary time, and they embed the dynamics of cognition beyond brains and individuals, into groups and even species. This analysis does not deny the importance of abstract representations for human cognition. However, all four contributions suggest that in focusing too narrowly on representational cognition we lose sight of the basic mechanisms supporting and driving cognition. Furthermore, to understand these, we need to understand not only how these processes are embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended, but also how they are shaped, transmitted, and diversified in processes of group formation.