A Moderate Approach to Embodied Cognitive Science

Many current programs for cognitive science sail under the banner of “embodied cognition.” These programs typically seek to
distance themselves from standard cognitive science. The present proposal for a conception of embodied cognition is less radical
than most, indeed, quite compatible with many versions of traditional cognitive science. Its rationale is based on two elements,
each of which is theoretically plausible and empirically well-founded. The first element invokes the idea of “bodily formats,”
i.e., representational codes primarily utilized in forming interoceptive or directive representations of one’s bodily states
and activities. The second element appeals to wideranging evidence that the brain reuses or redeploys cognitive processes
having different original uses. When the redeployment theme is applied to bodily formats of representation, they jointly provide
for the possibility that body-coded cognition is a very pervasive sector of cognition.