What is "externalism"

Externalism \Ex*ter"nal*ism\n.

1. The quality of being manifest to the senses; external acts or appearances; regard for externals.

   This externalism gave Catholicism a great advantage on all sides.
   --E. Eggleston.

2. (Metaph.) That philosophy or doctrine which recognizes or deals only with externals, or objects of sense perception; positivism; phenomenalism.

n. 1 Excessive regard to outward acts or appearances, especially in religion. The denial of internalism. 2 The act of judging by outward appearance or acts. 3 The belief that only things that can be observed by senses are real.

Externalism is a group of positions in the philosophy of mind which argues that the conscious mind is not only the result of what is going on inside the nervous system (or the brain), but also what occurs or exists outside the subject. It is contrasted with internalism which holds that the mind emerges from neural activity alone. Externalism is a belief that the mind is not just the brain or functions of the brain.

There are different versions of externalism based on different beliefs about what the mind is taken to be. Externalism stresses factors external to the nervous system. At one extreme, the mind could possibly depend on external factors. At the opposite extreme, the mind necessarily depends on external factors. The extreme view of externalism argues either that the mind is constituted by or identical with processes partially or totally external to the nervous system.

Another important criterion in externalist theory is to which aspect of the mind is addressed. Some externalists focus on cognitive aspects of the mindsuch as Andy Clark and David Chalmers, Shaun Gallagher and many otherswhile others engage either the phenomenal aspect of the mind or the conscious mind itself. Several philosophers consider the conscious phenomenal content and activity, such as William Lycan, Alex Byrne or Francois Tonneau; Teed Rockwell or Riccardo Manzotti.

A neurobiological theory that relies on externalism for explanation of mental phenomena is called practopoiesis.