ABSTRACT

Embodied cognition is often presented as an alternative or challenger or “next step in the evolution of” standard cognitive science. The domain of standard cognitive science is fairly clearly circumscribed. Its ontological commitments, that is, its commitments to the existence of various theoretical entities, are overt: cognition involves algorithmic processes upon symbolic representations. As a research program, embodied cognition exhibits much greater latitude in subject matter, ontological commitment, and methodology than does standard cognitive science. The domain of embodied cognition certainly overlaps with that of cognitive science, but it also seems to include phenomena that might hold little interest for a cognitive scientist. However, before diving into the business of discussing Conceptualization, Replacement, and Constitution, an account of the nature of standard cognitive science, as well as a sense of what a challenge to standard cognitive science might look like, will be tremendously useful.