arrow
Return

Critical 4E Cognitive Science

delete2026-01-17
delete1
PRE
AI
S
Shen‐yi Liao *
B
Brinner, Zoe
DOI:10.1111/phc3.70075delete
deleteOriginal
deleteOriginal request for help
deleteShare
deleteSave
Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
According to 4E cognitive science, our cognitive capacities depend on, and have been transformed by, the environments we have made. Most early works of 4E cognitive science tend to focus on the upside of agent-environment interactions: They have made us smarter and allowed us to do more, despite the same, limited brain (and body) power. However, the recent critical turn focuses on the downsides of agent-environment interactions. Critical 4E cognitive science, as we call this emerging research program, adopts the 4E frameworks and concepts but with a critical lens: questioning its hidden assumptions and leveraging its theoretical resources for social criticism. In particular, we distinguish two kinds of normative critique that bring out the downsides of agent-environment interactions. Prudential critiques focus on how agent-environment interactions can shape an agent's cognition to undermine their own interests. Political critiques focus on how agent-environment interactions can shape an agent's cognition to contribute to the reinforcement and exacerbation of unjust social forces.
Keywords:
cognitive science
critical theory
cultural anthropology
ecological psychology
embodied cognition
extended mind
feminist theory
social and political philosophy

Journal

P
Philosophy Compass
IF:
2.4
Papers:
31
Citations:
0

Organization

S
santa clara university
Scholars:
228
Papers: 139
Citations: 0