Erik Myin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Antwerp and director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology. He has published papers on mind and cognition, sometimes in collaboration with scientists or with other philosophers. With Daniel Hutto he wrote Radicalizing Enactivism: Basic Minds without Content (2013), and Evolving Enactivism: Basic Minds Meet Content (2017).
Hutto D. D., Myin E., Peeters A. & Zahnoun F. (2018) The cognitive basis of computation: Putting computation in its place. In: Sprevak M. & Colombo M. (eds.) The Routledge handbook of the computational mind. Routledge, London: 272–282. https://cepa.info/6683
The mainstream view in cognitive science is that computation lies at the basis of and explains cognition. Our analysis reveals that there is no compelling evidence or argument for thinking that brains compute. It makes the case for inverting the explanatory order proposed by the computational basis of cognition thesis. We give reasons to reverse the polarity of standard thinking on this topic, and ask how it is possible that computation, natural and artificial, might be based on cognition and not the other way around.
Open peer commentary on the article “Coordination Produces Cognitive Niches, not just Experiences: A Semi-Formal Constructivist Ontology Based on von Foerster” by Konrad Werner. Upshot: The general aim of this commentary is to urge the author to clarify a few essential notions, as well as their precise role in the overall argument. We feel that only then will a proper assessment of the article’s merits become possible.