From Plausibility to Probability: A Cumulative Case for the Extended Mind
The Extended Mind Hypothesis (EMH) holds that some cognitive processes extend beyond the boundaries of the body, encompassing tools and environmental resources as genuine constituents of cognition rather than mere aids to it. I develop a cumulative inductive argument for the view that the evidence warrants accepting EMH. Standard technological cases — such as Otto’s notebook functioning as an external memory system — establish EMH as plausible but inconclusive. I argue that four biological cases of decentralized organization — the octopus, the honeybee swarm, the army ant colony, and the slime mold — advance the argument from plausibility toward probability by showing that distributed organization of the kind EMH posits is a real and widespread biological phenomenon. These findings are consolidated through an inference to the best explanation and a burden-of-proof argument. The implications of the argument for the philosophy of memory and collective agency are briefly noted.