Joseph Murray Personal Identifier: C1888923 A222 TMA 05

Could someone take away parts of my mind by stealing my personal possessions? Answer with
reference to the Extended Mind thesis defended by Clark and Chalmers.

In this short essay I am going to explore what the extended mind thesis is, linking then to Andy
Clark and David Chalmers view of this thesis and provide an example of the thesis in action, to
conclude if someone stole an individuals personal possessions, could they take a part of an
individuals mind.

The extended mind thesis says that an individuals mind and cognitive processes are not skull-
bound nor are they body-bound, but are extend into the individuals environment. The extended
mind thesis puts forward that some objects in the external environment are made use of by the
mind in such a way that the objects could be seen as extensions of an individuals mind itself.
Precisely that, the mind is seen to encompass every level of the cognitive process, which will often
include the use of objects and aids found in an individuals environment. (Wikipedia, 2019).

Andy Clark and David Chalmers put it in "The Extended Mind" (1998): "Where does the mind stop
and the rest of the world begin? ... We propose to pursue ... an active externalism, based on the
active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes.” A question raised to identify the line
between the mind and the environment (Clark, A. Chalmers, D. 1998)

So could someone take away parts of my mind by stealing my personal possessions? An example
of how this thesis may be seen in a real world situation and how it poses this essays question is
23as ph follows by Andy Clark and David Chalmers.

“Inga hears from a friend that there is an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and decides to
go see it. She thinks for a moment and recalls that the museum is on 53rd Street, so she walks to
53rd Street and goes into the museum. It seems clear that Inga believes that the museum is on
53rd Street, and that she believed this even before she consulted her memory. It was not
previously an occurrent belief, but then neither are most of our beliefs. The belief was sitting
somewhere in memory, waiting to be accessed.

Now consider Otto. Otto suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and like many Alzheimer's patients, he
relies on information in the environment to help structure his life. Otto carries a notebook around
with him everywhere he goes. When he learns new information, he writes it down. When he needs
some old information, he looks it up. For Otto, his notebook plays the role usually played by a
biological memory. Today, Otto hears about the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, and
decides to go see it. He consults the notebook, which says that the museum is on 53rd Street, so
he walks to 53rd Street and goes into the museum.

Clearly, Otto walked to 53rd Street because he wanted to go to the museum and he believed the
museum was on 53rd Street. And just as Inga had her belief even before she consulted her
memory, it seems reasonable to say that Otto believed the museum was on 53rd Street even
before consulting his notebook. For in relevant respects the cases are entirely analogous: the
notebook plays for

Otto the same role that memory plays for Inga. The information in the notebook functions just like
the information constituting an ordinary non-occurrent belief; it just happens that this information
lies beyond the skin” (Clark, A. Chalmers, D. 1998)

Andy Clark and David Chalmers have pointed out that, sometimes we as individuals work things
out in our heads, and sometimes we use bits of the world to help us, such as Otto’s notebook
helped him. (Matravers, D. 2011)
In conclusion if someone stole Ottos notebook, one could argue that they stole part of his mind,
which can be expanded to other personal possessions.

Word Count for A222 TMA 05: 659

References:

Clark, A. Chalmers, D. 2019. Edacuk. [Online]. [22 April 2019]. Available from:
https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1842/1312/TheExtendedMind.pdf?sequence=1

Extended Mind Thesis. 2019. Wikipedia. [Online]. [22 April 2019]. Available from:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_mind_thesis

Matravers, D (2011). Mind. Milton Keynes: The Open University .