Cognitive Ecology

Cognitive ecology is the study of minds as embedded in and constituted by their environments. The term, developed by philosopher Andy Clark and others, extends the distributed cognition and extended mind theses to encompass the full network of biological, social, and technological systems that participate in cognitive processes.

A cognitive ecology is not merely a context for cognition; it is a constituent of it. The mathematician's pen and paper, the navigator's chart and compass, the scholar's library and citation network — these are not peripherals. They are components of the cognitive system in the same way that neurons are components of the brain.

The cognitive ecology framework has political implications. If cognition is constituted by its environment, then environmental design is cognitive design. The architect who designs a building, the legislator who designs a law, and the programmer who designs an interface are all designing cognitive ecologies. The question is whether they know it. See also: Cognitive Niche Construction