Extended epistemology /

Relying on a smartphone to "remember" things is in effect on a functional par with using biological memory--demonstrating that certain cognitive processes may extend beyond the physical brain and into the world. Indeed, one could even say that certain mental states are extra-cranial, that the mind extends beyond the brain. The epistemic consequences of this "extended mind thesis" are the focus of this collection of 16 essays on extended epistemology. Part 1 addresses core epistemological issues facing extended epistemology: if cognition might supervene on processes outside the physical brain, how must the traditional, Cartesian approach to epistemology be modified? Part 2 addresses applications of extended epistemology to further philosophical issues, including parallels to Confucian philosophy, relevance to virtue epistemology, the philosophy of education, social epistemology, ethical considerations, and more. At the forefront of a burgeoning subdomain of epistemology, this volume is timely and extremely relevant. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Lane Alan Wilkinson, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga