Extended cognition and fixed properties : steps to a third-wave version of extended cognition

This paper explores several paths a distinctive third wave of extended

cognition might take. In so doing, I address a couple of shortcomings of first- and

second-wave extended cognition associated with a tendency to conceive of the

properties of internal and external processes as fixed and non-interchangeable. First,

in the domain of cognitive transformation, I argue that a problematic tendency of the

complementarity model is that it presupposes that socio-cultural resources augment

but do not significantly transform the brain’s representational capacities during

diachronic development. In this paper I show that there is available a much more

dynamical explanation—one taking the processes of the brain’s enculturation into

patterned practices as transforming the brain’s representational capacities. Second, in

the domain of cognitive assembly, I argue that another problematic tendency is an

individualistic notion of cognitive agency, since it overlooks the active contribution

of socio-cultural practices in the assembly process of extended cognitive systems. In

contrast to an individualistic notion of cognitive agency, I explore the idea that it is

possible to decentralize cognitive agency to include socio-cultural practices.