Extended Epistemology

One of the most important research programmes in contemporary cognitive science is that of extended cognition, whereby features of a subject's cognitive environment can in certain conditions become constituent parts of the cognitive process itself. The aim of this volume is to explore the epistemological ramifications of this idea. The volume brings together a range of distinguished and emerging academics, from a variety of different perspectives, to investigate the very idea of an extended epistemology. The first part of the volume explores foundational issues with regard to an extended epistemology, including from a critical perspective. The second part of the volume examines the applications of extended epistemology and the new theoretical directions that it might take us. These include its ethical ramifications, its import to the epistemology of education and emerging digital technologies, and how this idea might dovetail with certain themes in Chinese philosophy.

J. Adam Carter is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. He works mainly in epistemology. His book Metaepistemology and Relativism was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016.


Andy Clark is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh. He works in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, artificial intelligence and related areas. His most recent book, Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action and the Embodied Mind, was published by Oxford UP in 2016.


Jesper Kallestrup is Professor in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh working mainly in epistemology, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. His book Semantic Externalism was published by Routledge in 2011.

S. Orestis Palermos is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Cardiff University. He works primarily in epistemology and the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, including the philosophical foundations of extended and socially extended knowledge.

Duncan Pritchard is Professor and Chair of Epistemology at the University of Edinburgh. His most recent book, Epistemic Angst, was published by Princeton UP in 2015.