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Relations (1)
related 2.00 — strongly supporting 3 facts
The environmental complexity thesis posits that the mind is a natural consequence of evolutionary biology [1], while also serving as a framework for understanding how the mind functions as a mechanism for decision-making based on external states [2]. Furthermore, the concept of the mind is central to the thesis's historical development, as it contrasts with other views on how mental complexity evolves in relation to an organism's environment [3].
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Complexity and the Evolution of Consciousness | Biological Theory link.springer.com 3 facts
claimExplications of the environmental complexity thesis have historically paid little attention to the organism as a 'design and control architecture,' instead treating the mind as a mechanism that decides actions based on external states of the world, according to Spurrett (2020).
referenceGodfrey-Smith's (1996a) environmental complexity thesis attempted to reconcile earlier ideas from John Dewey and Herbert Spencer regarding the continuity between life and mind within the modern framework of evolutionary theory, positing the mind as a natural consequence of the evolution of biological complexity.
claimJohn Dewey viewed the complexity of the mind as something that evolved to address problems emerging from the dynamics between an organism and its environment, a perspective the author notes is closer to the pathological complexity thesis than to Godfrey-Smith's externalist environmental complexity thesis.