Daily Dialectic

Standard conceptions of what a mind is frequently start with one underlying assumption; that whatever the mind is, it can be found inside the head. Andy Clark and David Chalmers do not agree with this assumption. “…the human organism is linked with an external entity in a two-way interaction, creating a coupled system that can be seen as a cognitive system in its own right” (Clark & Chalmers 1998, p.8).

According to Clark and Chalmers, the mind is prehensile; it is capable of grasping the world. While a coupled system shows the presence of a cognitive system that contains a mind and part of the external world however, Clark and Chalmers also claim that the cognitive mind extends beyond the head as well.