Abstract

It is not easy to devise a criterion that would discriminate between causal factors that extend the mind and causal factors that don't. A distinction between constitutive factors and merely causal factors seems to be inconsistent with the Principle of Parity; but the Principle, in turn, is required to block the slippery slope threatening to extend each mind to the whole universe. If, however, no principled distinction could be introduced to set limits to the extension of the mind, then every proposed extension would be essentially arbitrary and interest-relative: hence, the notion of extended mind could not be regarded as a naturalistic notion. Anyway, it is not clear that extended systems would be explanatorily interesting.