Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Is the Mind Ever Constituted by Bodily Processes Outside the Brain? Exploring Embodied

  • Sophie Wood*
  • , Chaojie Liu (Editor)
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

22 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this essay I explore whether the mind is ever constituted by processes that are not in the brain. I interrogate whether the processes of remembering when typing words on a keyboard are all processes done by the brain, suggesting that perhaps the hands do some of the remembering themselves. We typically think of remembering as a minded activity, and therefore it would seem that the processes the hands are carrying out are minded processes. I outline both embodied and representationalist accounts of mind and suggest that a classical representationalist account of the activity of typing words on a keyboard is not the most satisfying or comprehensive explanation of what is going on. My argument is supported by an argument from enculturation that developments in our environments have facilitated developments in our cognition that means the brain is not the sole cognitive part of the body. I ultimately conclude that there is a strong case for embodied cognition being included as a form of cognition and therefore in some ways constituting the mind.
Original languageEnglish
Article number0804
JournalBristol Institute for Learning and Teaching (BILT) Student Research Journal
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2025

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Is the Mind Ever Constituted by Bodily Processes Outside the Brain? Exploring Embodied'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
  • BILT Student Research Journal 2025 - Issue 6

    Liu, J. (Principal Investigator), Gu, S. (Co-Investigator), Sudi, L. (Co-Investigator), Harvey, C. L. (Manager) & Palmer, A. C. (Manager)

    10/09/2415/08/25

    Project: Research

Cite this