Critical Note
The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition October 9, 2018 Andreas Roepstorff, Tobias Starzak
Taking an evolutionary perspective on 4E cognition—embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended—reveals how cultural and biological evolution shape cognition beyond individual brains. Four papers analyze cognition across historical and evolutionary timescales, embedding its dynamics in groups and species. While abstract representations remain important, focusing too narrowly on representational cognition overlooks the basic mechanisms that support and drive cognition. To grasp these mechanisms, one must understand not only how cognitive processes are embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended, but also how they are shaped, transmitted, and diversified through group formation.