A Plausible Foundation for Macrocognition
A Plausible Foundation for Macrocognition
This chapter articulates in detail a novel approach to collective mentality derived from commonly recognized explanatory practices in the cognitive and biological sciences. This account embraces a broadly mechanistic approach to mentality, that is grounded in the componential account of mental-representation articulated in the Chapter 3. It is argued that collective mental states supervene on the integrated activity of distributed cognitive systems, and that this yields a reductive explanation of collective mentality. It is shown that this does not warrant an eliminativist conclusion, but instead demonstrates a striking parallel to the architecture of an individual mind.
Keywords: Componential explanation, Kludges, Object-oriented programming, Trading languages, Supervenience, Reduction
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