Radical Embodied Cognitive Science

TLDR

Radical embodied cognitive science is an interdisciplinary approach that blends phenomenology, ecological psychology, and dynamical systems modeling, tracing its roots to Jamesian functionalism and opposing the trend of merely adding bodily references to standard cognitive psychology while questioning the explanatory role of mental representations. The paper discusses future prospects for radical embodied cognitive science and the wider functionalist framework.

Abstract

This paper briefly introduces radical embodied cognitive science (RECS) and places it in historical perspective. Radical embodied cognitive science is an interdisciplinary approach to psychology that combines ideas from the phenomenological tradition with ecological psychology and dynamical systems modeling. It is argued that radical embodied cognitive science has a long history; it is as a direct descendent of the Jamesian functionalist approach to psychology. This approach to psychology is contrasted with the current trend of supplementing standard cognitive psychology with occasional references to the body. In contrast with these trends, radical embodied cognitive science is skeptical of the explanatory usefulness of mental representations. The future prospects of radical embodied cognitive science and the broader functionalist framework are discussed.