Engaging, admirably clear, and written with an authority that comes only from intimate familiarity with contemporary research on cognition, Wheeler develops a biologically grounded and noncomputational notion of mental representation that forms the foundation for a broadly Heideggerian interpretation of the revolutionary embodied-embedded turn in contemporary cognitive science. This book has the potential to radically reshape how cognitive science and analytical philosophy view the mind.
Mark A. Bedau, Professor of Philosophy, Reed College, Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Life
After shedding a harsh new light on the Cartesian flaws at the heart of much of mainstream cognitive science, Wheeler carefully and persuasively builds a case for an alternative Heideggerian approach, grounding his arguments in current empirical work in AI. Superbly written with great clarity and energy (not to mention scholarship), this is a very important book for all serious students of cognitive science and its constituent disciplines from AI to philosophy of mind.
Phil Husbands, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of Sussex
Michael Wheeler has given us a masterly account of the embodied, dynamical perspective in cognitive science. His book is philosophically sophisticated, technically well informed, and beautifully written. It communicates the excitement and biological relevance of a variety of work in A-life, and shows how some of Heidegger's ideas can be constructively applied to the field. It will even make you laugh. In short: it's not to be missed.
Margaret A. Boden, Research Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Sussex, author of The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms
Taking Rodney Brooks's pronouncement 'It isn't German philosophy' as his point of departure, Wheeler shows that, on the contrary, much of the most recent and interesting work in cognitive science has been implicitly, but importantly, guided by principles that derive from the work of the great German phenomenologist Martin Heidegger. In rigorously and lucidly prosecuting this case, Wheeler develops a devastating attack on Cartesian cognitive science, and produces his own significant contribution towards an embedded and embodied alternative. This is a wonderful and timely book.
Mark Rowlands, Professor of Menal and Moral Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire, U.K.