Is Distributed Cognition Group Level Cognition?
Keywords:
distributed cognition, group cognition, problem solving, transactive memory systems, joint actionAbstract
This paper shows that recent arguments from group problem solving and task performance to emergent group level cognition that rest on the social parity and related principles are invalid or question begging. The paper shows that standard attributions of problem solving or task performance to groups require only multiple agents of the outcome, not a group agent over and above its members, whether or not any individual member of the group could have accomplished the task independently.
References
Adams, F. R. and K. Aizawa (2008): The Bounds of Cognition. Oxford: Blackwell.
Block, N. (1981): “Psychologism and Behaviorism”. In: Philosophical Review 90, p. 5–43. https://doi.org/10.2307/2184371
Button, G. (2008): “Against ‘Distributed Cognition”. In: Theory, Culture and Society 25. No. 2, p. 87–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276407086792
Clark, A. (2009): “Reply to Fodor”. In: London Review of Books 31. No. 6.
Dennett, D. C. (1981): “True believers: The intentional strategy and why it works”. In: A. F. Heath (Ed.): Scientific Explanation: Papers Based on Herbert Spencer Lectures Given in the University of Oxford. Clarendon, p. 150–167.
Fodor, J. (2009): “Where is My Mind?” In: London Review of Books 31. No. 3, p. 13–15.
French, P. (1979): “The Corporation as a Moral Person”. In: American Philosophical Quarterly 16. No. 3, p. 207–215.
Gallagher, S. (2013): “The Socially Extended Mind”. In: Cognitive Systems Research 25–26, 4–12. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2013.03.008
Gilbert, M. (1989): On Social Facts. London: Routledge.
Goldstone, R. L. and M. E. Roberts (2006): “Self-organized Trail Systems in Groups of Humans”. In: Complexity 11, p. 43–50. https://doi.org/10.1002/cplx.20135
Goldstone, R. L., M. E. Roberts, and T. M. Gureckis (2008): “Emergent Processes in Group Behavior”. In: Current Directions in Psychological Science 17. No. 1, p. 10–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00539.x
Grassé, P.-P. (1959): “La Reconstruction du Nid e les Coordinations inter-individuelles chez Bellicositerms natalensis et Cubiterms sp. La Theorie de lat stigmergie: Essai d’interpretation des termites constructerus”. In: Insectes Sociaux 6, p. 41–83.
Grofman, B., G. Owen, and S. L. Feld (1983): “Thirteen Theorems in Search of the Truth”. In: Theory and Decision 15, p. 261–278. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125672
Gureckis, T. M. and R. L. Goldstone (2006): “Thinking in Groups”. In: Pragmatics & Cognition 14, p. 293–311. https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.14.2.10gur
Helbing, D., J. Keltsch, and P. Molinár (1997a): “Modelling the Evoution of Human Trail Systems”. Nature and System 388, p. 47–50. https://doi.org/10.1038/40353
Helbing, D., F. Schweitzer, J. Keltsch, and P. Molnár (1997b): “Active Walker Model for the Formation fo Human and Animal Trail Systems”. In: Physical Review E 56, p. 2527–2539. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.56.2527
Heylighen, F., M. Heath, and F. Van Oerwalle (2004): The Emergence of Distributed Cognition: A Conceptual Framework. Paper presented at the Collective Intentionality IV, Siena, Italy.
Hutchins, E. (1995): Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/1881.001.0001
Laughlin, P. R. (2011): Group Problem Solving. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691147918.003.0003
List, C. (2003): “Distributed Cognition: A Perspective from Social Choice Theory”. In: M. Albert, D. Schmidtchen, and S. Voigt (Eds.): Scientific Competition: Theory and Policy, Conferences on New Political Economy. Mohr Siebeck.
List, C. and P. Pettit (2011): Group Agency: The Possibility, Design, and Status of Corporate Agents. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ludwig, K. (2007): “Collective Intentional Behavior from the Standpoint of Semantics”. In: Noûs 41. No. 3, p. 355–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0068.2007.00652.x
Ludwig, K. (2010): “Adverbs of Action”. In: T. O’Connor and C. Sandis (Eds.): Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Action. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Michaelian, K. and J. Sutton (2013): “Distributed Cognition and Memory Research: History and Current Directions”. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 4. No. 1, p. 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-013-0131-x
Moussaid, M., S. Garnier, G. Theraulaz, and D. Helbing (2009): “Collective Information Processing and Pattern Formation in Swarms, Flocks, and Crowds”. In: Topics in Cognitive Science 1, p. 469–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01028.x
Page, S. E. (2007): The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400830282
Pettit, P. (2003): “Groups with Minds of their Own”. In: F. Schmitt (Ed.): Socializing Metaphysics. Rowman and Littlefield, p. 167–193.
Pfeifer, J. and S. Sarkar (2006): The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia: Psychology Press.
Steiner, I. D. (1966): “Models for Inferring Relationships between Group Size and Potential Group Productivity”. In: Behavior Science 11, p. 273–283. https://doi.org/10.1002/bs.3830110404
Sutton, J., C. B. Harris, P. G. Keil, and A. J. Barnier (2010): “The Psychology of Memory, Extended Cognition, and Socially Distributed Remembering”. In: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 9. No. 4, p. 521–560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-010-9182-y
Szanto, T. (2014): “How to Share a Mind: Reconsidering the Group Mind Thesis”. In: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 13. No. 1, p. 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-013-9323-1
Theiner, G. (2008): From Extended Minds to Group Minds: Rethinking the Boundaries of the Mental. (Ph.D.), Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Theiner, G. (2009): “Making Sense of Group Cognition: The Curious Case of Transactive Memory Systems”. In: W. Christensen, E. Schier, and J. Sutton (Eds.): ASCS09: Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. Macquarie Center for Cognitive Science, p. 334–342.
Theiner, G. (2013a): “Onwards and Upwards with the Extended Mind: From Individual to Collective Epistemic Action”. In: L. Caporael, J. Griesemer, and W. Wimsatt (Eds.): Developing Scaffolds. MIT Press, p. 191–208. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262019552.003.0009
Theiner, G. (2013b): “Transactive Memory Systems: A Mechanistic Analysis of Emergent Group Memory”. In: Review of Philosophy and Psychology 4. No. 1, p. 65–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-012-0128-x
Theiner, G. (2014): “A Beginner’s Guide to Group Minds”. In: J. Kallestrup and M. Sprevak (Eds.): New Waves in Philosophy of Mind. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137286734_15
Theiner, G. and T. O’Connor (2010): “The Emergence of Group Cognition”. In: A. Corradini and T. O’Connor (Eds.): Emergence in Science and Philosophy. New York: Routledge.
Theiner, G., C. Allen, and R. L. Goldstone (2010): “Recognizing Group Cognition”. In: Cognitive Systems Research 11. No. 4, p. 378–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.07.002
Tollefsen, D. (2004): “Collective Epistemic Agency”. In: Southwest Philosophy Review 20. No. 1, p. 55–66. https://doi.org/10.5840/swphilreview20042015
Tollefsen, D. (2006): “From Extended Mind to Collective Mind”. In: Cognitive Systems Research 7, p. 140–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2006.01.001
Wegner, D. M. (1986): “Transactive Memory: A Contemporary Analysis of the Group Mind”. In: B. Mullen and G. R. Georthals (Eds.): Theories of Group Behavior. New York: Springer, p. 185–208.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Kirk Ludwig
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.