The parity principle, a term coined in @2009gallagherMental, is a principle for evaluating potential cases of extended cognition. The parity principle suggests that “a process outside of the head can count as a cognitive process only if in principle it could be accomplished inside the head” (@2009gallagherMental, p. 46). This principle is implied in Clark and Chalmers’ classic work on the extended mind, which takes a “minimal Cartesian” view of internal mental processes as the gold standard for cognition:
If, as we confront some task, a part of the world functions as a process which, were it done in the head, we would have no hesitation in recognizing as part of the cognitive process, then that part of the world is (so we claim) part of the cognitive process. (@1998clarkExtended, p. 8)
References
- @1998clarkExtended, “The extended mind”
- @2009gallagherMental, “Mental institutions”