Mind as an External Sign: A Semiotic Externalist Philosophy of Cognitive Science (Synthese Library, 531) - Hardcover

Atã, Pedro; Queiroz, João

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3032089875 ISBN 13: 9783032089878

Publisher: Springer, 2026

Synopsis

This book applies notions from C.S. Peirce’s philosophy, such as semiosis, mind, diagrammatic reasoning, abduction, and habits, to contemporary problems in distributed cognitive science. These problems include distributed cognitive systems, cognitive niche construction, external representations, cognitive artifacts, agency, and emergence. In this movement, Peirce’s approach provides a philosophical framework that reconceptualizes fundamental notions in distributed cognitive science. Among the founders of pragmatism, Charles S. Peirce remains one of the least influential within the pragmatic turn in cognitive science. Nevertheless, Peirce’s theory of mind is processist and externalist, placing it at the center of cognition and the action of external signs. This book is therefore of interest to philosophers of science as well as cognitive scientists and cognitive linguists.

About this title

About the Author

Pedro Atã is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice, Free State University, South Africa. Atã earned a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Linnaeus University, Sweden. His work focuses on modelling surprise, creativity and semiotic complexity in distributed cognitive processes, in fields such as Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Semiotics, Intermediality Studies, and Process Philosophy. He has published on topics such as intersemiotic translation between music and poetry, oral poetry improvisation, cognitive artifacts in dance, artwork authorship, situated problem solving, and cognitive niche construction.

João Queiroz is a professor at the Institute of Arts and the Graduate Program in Linguistics at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (Brazil), where he coordinates the Iconicity Research Group (IRG). Queiroz earned a Ph.D. in Communication and Semiotics from the Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), received a post-doctoral fellowship in Intelligent Systems and Artificial Life at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC-DCA), State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), and in Philosophy of Biology at the Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). He has been teaching courses on Cognitive Semiotics, Peirce’s Philosophy, and Intermediality Studies, and has supervised Ph.D. and Master’s students in the fields of Semiotics, Art & Technology, and Cognitive Semiotics. He has several publications in international journals, books, and conferences. Queiroz is a member of the International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS), a member (expert panel) of the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies, Växjö (Sweden), a member of the Group for Research in Artificial Cognition (UEFS, Brazil), and an associate researcher of the Linguistics and Language Practice Department, University of the Free State (South Africa). Personal homepage: https://joaoqueirozsemiotics.wordpress.com/

From the Back Cover

This book applies notions from C.S. Peirce’s philosophy, such as semiosis, mind, diagrammatic reasoning, abduction, and habits, to contemporary problems in distributed cognitive science. These problems include distributed cognitive systems, cognitive niche construction, external representations, cognitive artifacts, agency, and emergence. In this movement, Peirce’s approach provides a philosophical framework that reconceptualizes fundamental notions in distributed cognitive science. Among the founders of pragmatism, Charles S. Peirce remains one of the least influential within the pragmatic turn in cognitive science. Nevertheless, Peirce’s theory of mind is processist and externalist, placing it at the center of cognition and the action of external signs. This book is therefore of interest to philosophers of science as well as cognitive scientists and cognitive linguists.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3032089875
• ISBN 13: 9783032089878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 169