MA students should contact Michael Hoelzl if they would like to write a review for a book we would purchase for their studies.
Review of Lawrence Shapiro, Embodied Cognition, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2019). MA student Adam North writes: "Lawrence Shapiro’s second edition of his incredibly successful 2010 book, Embodied Cognition,
is both philosophically and scientifically engaging. Shapiro does an
excellent job in orientating the field of embodied cognition in relation
to standard cognitive science and specifying the research area.
Shapiro sets out to achieve two goals: 1. to introduce and develop the
central themes of embodied cognition; and 2. to access the relationship
between embodied cognition and standard cognitive science. Shapiro
identifies a critical issue with the former, being that it typically
follows a computational model of cognition. Throughout the book it is
revealed to the reader that there is a plethora of scientific evidence
that refutes computational theory and supports a theory of cognition
embedded within the body. Shapiro is particularly interested in three
themes of embodiment: conceptualization, replacement, and constitution.
Conceptualization explores the concepts which an organism relies on to
understand the world around it and suggests that the body of an organism
defines the world around it. Replacement serves to critique
computational understandings of cognition by stating that cognitive
processes are not discrete, but continuous. This theme seeks to replace
computational theory with dynamical systems theory. Constitution
proposes that the body plays a constitutive role in cognitive
processing, rather than a causal role. Through the exploration of these
themes Shapiro provides the reader with an excellent understanding of
embodied cognition and clarifies why it should be seriously considered a
contender to standard cognitive science. Shapiro admits that embodied
cognition is better considered a research program than a well-defined
theory at this early stage in its history, yet the research suggests
that it is has a promising future. I recommend this book to anyone who
has an interest in theories of embodiment and wishes to explore the
question, does cognition begin and end at the boarders of the brain?"
