Matthew Crippen - Mind Ecologies

F or one of us, the origins of this book go back to the 1970s. For the other, the immediate impetus was more recent: a 2012 conference paper fusing pragmatism, phenomenology, and work on artificial intelligence (AI). This was combined with the suggestion from Lana Khle (then a doctoral candidate under the supervision of Evan Thompson) that embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended perspectivesotherwise known as 4E cognitive sciencebe added to the mix.

The last decade has brought us both into repeated contact with the 4E idea. Numerous conferences have also brought reoccurring intercourse with rising and established scholars weaving comparable threads, and who have in various ways shaped the trajectory of this book. Among those we wish to acknowledge are Tony Chemero, Ewa Chudaba, Joerg Fingerhut, Mark Johnson, Matthias Jung, Oliver Kauffmann, Roman Madzia, Richard Menary, Donata Schoeller, and Tibor Solymosi. Roman Madzia and Matthias Jung in fact organized a conference on pragmatism and cognitive science at the University of Koblenz-Landau, which most of the preceding scholars attended. Less than a half year later, another conference on the same topic took place at the American University in Cairo, with some of the above contingent presenting and contributing to a special issue of Contemporary Pragmatism. During this same period, Roberto Frega and Pierre Steiner organized still another conference on pragmatism and 4E cognitive science in Paris, where many of us met once more. In the spring of 2016, a few of our paths crossed yet again at a conference on pragmatism and the brain, organized to some extent around the work of John Shook and Tibor Solymosi, and held at the University of North Carolina at Ashville. This is where the two of us began talking in earnest.

The two of us found that we got along personally and stayed in contact. It helped that we thought alike on most matters pertaining to mind. Over the next months we increasingly discovered that our interests intersected and mutually complemented one anothers. By Christmas of 2016, we were toying with the idea of writing some papers together. A few months later, this evolved into plans for this book.

Any major academic endeavor owes debts to others. In addition to those already mentioned, we would like to acknowledge teachers and scholars whom we cite too little or not at all, but who have nonetheless had a lasting influence on our intellectual development and this book. These include Catarina Belo, Kent Berridge, Jeanette Bicknell, Evan Cameron, Matthieu de Wit, Chris Green, Henry Jackman, David Jopling, Scott Jordon, Alexander Kremer, David Moffat, Ian McGregor, Phillip McReynolds, Bob Neville, Diego Nigro, Hal Pashler, Bryony Pierce, Elaine Powney, Jeff Rosen, Paul Rozin, Stuart Shanker, Rebekah Smick, Mog Stapleton, Susan Stuart, and Bob Sweetman. Among others who have left an imprint on us are Patrick Heelan, Sam Mallin, Curt Richter, George Scanlon, Eliot Stellar, and George Wolf, all now passed on. We offer especial thanks to Rob Switzer for his friendship and encouragement, and for suggesting alternative approaches when funding for a preliminary project that was to lay the seeds for this book collapsed. We are grateful to John Shook for permission to use amended fragments of a 2017 article published in Contemporary Pragmatism. We likewise acknowledge the largely invisible work of those in support roles who make scholarship possible, including administrative and student assistants, along with individuals at Columbia University Press. Among these are Sherifa Amin, Cristal Del Biondo, Reem Deif, Christine DeMichieli, Salma El-Galley, Zack Friedman, Lowell Frye, Ahmed El-Kosheiry, Salma El-Nager, Hadeel El-Sayed, Marwa Adel Farid, Khadeega Gafar, Yossra Hamouda, Hagar Hod, Kat Jorge, Isa Kundra, Julia Kushnirsky, Aya Morsi, Monica Abed Ramsis, Sherif Salem, and Heba Youssry. We offer especially hearty gratitude to Audra Sim for her superb and very thoughtful copyediting.

Wendy Lochner at Columbia University Press dedicated herself to getting this book published, offering fruitful suggestions while exhibiting patience with several missed deadlines, and we offer thanks to her. Sarah Hammadan exceptional former student and research assistantdid superb work contributing to . Other institutions have lent forms of support, especially the American University in Cairo, Georgetown Universitys Department of Neuroscience, and Humboldt Universitys Berlin School of Mind and Brain. They are joined by O. P. Jindal Global University, Pusan University, and the University of Washington. For various kinds of additional support, we would also like to thank Arwa Al-Magariaf; Ramy Amin; Amy Carrillo; Sean Collard; Franca DeAngelis; Stuart Dennie; Diane, Peter, and Matthew Dixon; Steve Formaneck; Taha Gebril; Senica Gonzalez; John and Karine Hauser; Betty and Daniel LaBrash; Jeff Langman; Adham Mandour; Mariam Matar; Gord McClennan; Fred Nix; Ian Rennie; Aislinn Rose; Sandy Schulkin; Judy Straut; Susan Straut-Collard; and Gnther and Mathilde Struck. Our thanks extend to Pegge Crippen, Marion Hawkins, Rosalind Schulkin, and other family relations, especially Chick Straut, who was a fellow intellectual traveler until he passed away at the end of 2018.

Some of those mentioned have been particularly inspirational on an intellectual level. With this in mind, we dedicate this book to Evan Cameron, Tony Chemero, Mark Johnson, and Tibor Solymosi. We also dedicate it to our immediate families: Bob, Paula, Marc, Najma, and Shannan, and April, Danielle, and Nick.