认知的界限之争及其辨析

The Bounds of Cognition: Defending or Beyond?

从笛卡尔的心身二元论到功能主义,再到计算认知都断定认知独立于包括大脑在内的身体,造成"离身"的认知;而涉身认知则提出认知是身体的认知,大脑是身体的大脑,认知过程是包含大脑的身体的动态活动过程,离开了身体,认知与心灵根本就不存在;近期克拉克与查尔默斯更是指出认知是通过大脑、肌肤与环境的交互作用、动态耦合成的延展认知系统,认知过程不再局限于头颅与肌肤之中,延展到了外在的世界,从而超越了认知的界限。那么,认知的界限是大脑,还是包含大脑的身体,还是应该超越认知的界限?本文通过对以亚当斯、爱德华和鲁伯特等为代表的认知界限的捍卫者和以克拉克与查尔默斯、梅纳瑞、卡麦诺等为代表的超越者的观点和论证进行详细的分析,给出认知以及认知过程的适当认识,并提出超越认知界限的辩据。

From Descartes’ mind-body dualism to functionalism, to computed cognition they assert that the cognitive process is separate from the body, and this has caused a 'disembodied' cognition. Embodied cognition hypothesis considers that cognition is in the body, one’s brain belongs to one’s body, and the cognitive process is the dynamic action process of the body that includes the brain, so cognition and mind will not exist without the body. However, Clark & Chalmers recently propose an extended cognition hypothesis: Cognition is a coupled dynamic system of the brain, the skin and the environment; the cognitive process is not limited in the skull and the skin, but rather it extends to the external world. Where are the bounds of cognition? The brain, or the body? Or should we go beyond the bounds of cognition? Through analyzing the views and arguments of defenders and exceeders, we try to give an appropriate understanding of cognition and cognitive process, and reasons to go beyond the bounds of cognition.