The embodied mind
by Francisco J. Varela · first published 1993
72% recommend28% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Fresh take on the mind-body problem and consciousness, framing cognition through the body and lived experience (enactivism). Suits readers in AI or cognitive science who want an alternative to representationalism.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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You might look at the work of Philosopher Humberto Maturana and Biologist/Philosopher Francisco Varela. In particular, Varela's work The Embodied Mind may be of interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Varela
on “The Practical Neuroscience of Buddhism” ↗I would add The Embodied Mind - Francisco Varela and Evan Thompson (1991) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/embodied-mind-revised-edition A great accomponiment to the first two, and a great read for those in AI related fields to start…
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗…ground from turing to norbert weiner to the macy conferences , systems theory, Hans Moravec and so on. The book was published in 1999 I think and makes frequent reference to Francisco Varela's book "The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience", which I think touches on a lot of the subjects discussed in this thread (ie, creating a dialogue between cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology)…
on “Consciousness as a State of Matter” ↗…something sure as hell can't be conscious. If any of y'all are interested in a fresh take on the mind-body problem and the study of consciousness as a whole, check out Varela, Thompson and Rosch's The Embodied Mind (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Embodied-Mind-Cognitive-Experience/...). It presents an interesting alternative to the computational paradigm that has provided little insight into understanding consciousness,…
on “A “Complex” Theory of Consciousness” ↗…science books that I think are all noteworthy enough to have been discussed by scientists. - Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal braid - Douglas R. Hofstadter - The Emperor's New Mind - Roger Penrose - The Embodied Mind - Varela, Thompson & Rosch - Don't sleep, there are snakes - Daniel Everett
on “In Retrospect: The Selfish Gene” ↗…chapter: https://www.academia.edu/1163887/Radicalizing_Enactivism_Bas... But for a more general, less radical background on this topic, see also work by Rafael Nunez and others: http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~nunez/web/publications.html The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience http://www.amazon.com/Embodied-Mind-Cognitive-Science-Experi... George Lakoff & Rafael Nunez: Where Mathematics Come From: How The Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics…
on “The brain is not a computer” ↗…in terms of the enactive structures in which they arise. These comprise the body (as a biological system and as personally experienced) and the physical world which it enacts.« »Varela's 1991 book The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, co-authored with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, is considered a classic in the field of cognitive science, offering pioneering phenomenological connections and…
on “Francisco Varela” ↗…implicit in most neuroscience. Valera, Rorty, Dennett are all readable. Heidegger and Matura are more cryptic unless you are a philosopher. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Varela Valera’s “The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience”, co-authored with Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch, is a good intro on this and related concepts. But for Hacker News readers by far the best intro to this topic…
on “The non-Riemannian nature of perceptual color space (2022)” ↗…stuff as it gives an understanding of how we think. Check out these books if you are interesting. We used the first as our textbook. (His writing is like his teaching.) * Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought * Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being
on “Conceptual metaphor” ↗I took a class from George at Berkeley. We used Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought as the text. Absolutely fascinating stuff. The article (http://edge.org/3rd_culture/boroditsky09/boroditsky09_index....) is well worth reading. She explains that…
on “How Does Our Language Shape The Way We Think?” ↗…and Concept of. Mathematical Proof" by Steven G. Krantz http://www.math.wustl.edu/~sk/eolss.pdf But if you want to really understand then take a look at the book Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being by G. Lakoff & R. Núñez. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Mathematics-Comes-Embodied-Bring... The introduction and first four chapters [PDF] are available at http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~nunez/web/INTR-04.PDF
on “What are some correct results discovered with incorrect (or no) proofs?” ↗…philosopher and I enjoy thinking about these things a lot. The theory you've described is the one that seems to have the most explanatory power. Andy Clark's "Surfing Uncertainty-Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind" is a book-length exploration of this idea. Highly recommend.
on “Brains are not required to think or solve problems – simple cells can do it” ↗The Embodied Mind by Thomas Verny is another great read on this theme. It's about cellular memory/cognition.
on “Memories are not only in the brain, human cell study finds” ↗I think its not too controversial a statement to say that Embodied Cognition was kicked with by the publication of The Embodied Mind (Varela, Rosch, Thompson, 1991), but I noticed a significant increase in its popularity in the 2010s.
on “Artificial Intelligence Hits the Barrier of Meaning” ↗…articles are not novels, and so require a lower threshold of understanding to produce. I don't think so. We tend to underestimate the embodied nature of even the most basic use of language[0]. [0] See The Embodied Mind by Varela, Thompson, and Rosch.
on “Google is funding the creation of software that writes local news stories” ↗