The mindsized mashup mind isn’t supersized after all

Stuart, S.A.J. (2010) The mindsized mashup mind isn’t supersized after all. Analysis, 70(1), pp. 174-183. [Book Review]

Abstract

I rather like Andy Clark’s book, Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension, but it certainly hasn’t put my mind at rest. As always Clark’s writing is uncomplicated and energetic, managing to make everything, from the physiology of the moving body, through an analysis of the scaffolding role, he maintains is, played by language, to the strategic use of representation, computation and control by the biological brain, both intelligible and interesting. And I have a great deal of sympathy with his main thesis: that we must consider the whole body, rather than merely the brain, as the locus where sensing and acting are synthesized and through which cognitive systems can engage with their world. But still I find that I have a couple of rather fundamental reservations, alongside a number of ancillary comments that arise from my own puzzlement with some – of what can at first glance seem – disarmingly simple claims.

• Item Type: Book Reviews
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in 'Analysis' following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version 'Stuart, S.A.J. (2010) The mindsized mashup mind isn’t supersized after all. Analysis, 70 (1). pp. 174-183. ISSN 0003-2638' is available online at: http://analysis.oxfordjournals.org/content/70/1/174.short
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Stuart, Dr Susan
• Authors: Stuart, S.A.J.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Information Studies
• Journal Name: Analysis
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 0003-2638
• ISSN (Online): 1467-8284
• Published Online: 28 September 2009
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2010 Oxford University Press
• First Published: First published in Analysis 70(1):174-183
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher