Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T00:27:22.163Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Markov blankets do not demarcate the boundaries of the mind

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2022

Richard Menary Open the ORCID record for Richard Menary [Opens in a new window]  and
Alexander J. Gillett
Richard Menary
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia richard.menary@mq.edu.au alexander.gillett@mq.edu.au
Alexander J. Gillett
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia richard.menary@mq.edu.au alexander.gillett@mq.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We agree with Bruineberg and colleagues' main claims. However, we urge for a more forceful critique by focusing on the extended mind debate. We argue that even once the Pearl and Friston versions of the Markov blanket have been untangled, that neither is sufficient for tackling and resolving the question of demarcating the boundaries of the mind.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e201
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bangu, S. (2012). The applicability of mathematics in science: Indispensability and ontology. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Clark, A. (2016). Surfing uncertainty: Prediction, action, and the embodied mind. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hohwy, J. (2013). The predictive mind. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hohwy, J. (2016). The self-evidencing brain. Noûs, 50, 259–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchhoff, M., & Kiverstein, J. (2021) How to determine the boundaries of the mind: A Markov blanket proposal. Synthese, 198, 4791–4810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchhoff, M., Parr, T., Palacios, E., Friston, K., & Kiverstein, J. (2018). The Markov blankets of life: Autonomy, active inference and the free energy principle. Journal of the Royal Society: Interface, 15, 20170792.Google ScholarPubMed
Mann, S. F., Pain, R., & Kirchhoff, M. (forthcoming). Free energy: A user's guide.Google Scholar
Menary, R., & Gillett, A. J. (2021). Are Markov blankets real and does it matter? In Mendonça, D., Curado, M. & Gouveia, S. S. (Eds.), The philosophy and science of predictive processing (pp. 39–58). Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Ramstead, M., Kirchhoff, M. D., Constant, A., & Friston, K. (2021). Multiscale integration: Beyond internalism and externalism. Synthese, 198(Suppl 1), S41–S70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramstead, M. J., Friston, K. J., & Hipólito, I. (2020a). Is the free energy principle a formal theory of semantics? From variational density dynamics to neural and phenotypic representations. Entropy, 22(8), 889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramstead, M. J., Kirchhoff, M. D., & Friston, K. J. (2020b). A tale of two densities: Active inference is enactive inference. Adaptive Behavior, 28(4), 225–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar