Integrative biophilosophy

Project Leader: Dr. Mark-Oliver Casper

Associate: Giuseppe Flavio Artese, M.Sc.

Funding: German Research Foundation (Project Number: 542329417)

Duration: March 2025 – expected March 2028

Project Description

The project “Philosophy of Situated Cognition” (PoS) addresses a central challenge in modern cognitive science: the methodological grounding of the so-called 4E approach. This approach understands cognition as an interactive process between living beings and their environment. Critics, however, often raise the so-called “Motley Crew Argument,” which holds that the multitude of interacting factors involved is too complex to allow for the scientifically precise investigation of hypotheses within the 4E approach. To resolve this uncertainty, the project pursues two key strategies.

The first step consists of a systematic review of research methods. To date, the methodological “toolkit” of 4E cognition has been fragmented and confusing. The project is therefore compiling a comprehensive overview ranging from neurophenomenology to the analysis of social dynamics and methods of complexity science. In doing so, the project not only catalogs theoretical approaches but also evaluates experimental designs—such as dual-task studies or dynamic experiments—to determine how well they can capture decentralized cognitive systems.

The second strategy aims to provide an empirical extension through cognitive ethology (behavioral biology). Traditional cognitive research often faces a dilemma: strictly controlled laboratory experiments exclude complex environmental interactions, which are, however, considered constitutive of cognitive phenomena. Behavioral biology offers a solution to this, as it examines behavior under natural conditions and with high ecological validity. The project demonstrates how ethological “best practices”—such as structural equation modeling—can be used to study cognition. One example is the analysis of risk assessment in animals such as flocking birds, which does not occur in isolation but is understood as emerging from a network of variables such as group size, territory, and physical condition. By integrating this behavioral biological research practice, the 4E approach becomes empirically operationalizable, and the “Motley Crew” argument is weakened.

Selected Publications

• Casper, M. O. & Artese, G. F. (2023). Situated Cognition Research. Methodological Foundations, Cham: Springer. (Link) (Peer-reviewed)
• Casper, M. O. (2023). A Methodological Problem of Choice for 4E Research. In M. O. Casper & G. F. Artese (Eds.), Situated Cognition Research. Methodological Foundations (pp. 17–44). Springer. (Peer-reviewed)
• Casper, M. O. (2019). Social Enactivism: On Situating High-Level Cognitive States and Processes, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. (Link)
• Casper, M. O., & Artese, G. F. (2023). A Methodological Response to the Motley Crew Argument: Explaining Cognitive Phenomena Through Enactivism and Ethology. In J. M. Viejo & M. Sanjuán (Eds.), Life and Mind: New Directions in the Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences (pp. 27–48). Springer. (Link)
• Casper, M. O., & Haueis, P. (2022). Stuck in between. Phenomenology’s explanatory dilemma and its role in experimental practice. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 22(7), 1–24. (Link)
• Casper, M. O., & Artese, G. F. (2022). Maintaining coherence in the situated cognition debate: what computationalism cannot offer to a future post-cognitivist science. Adaptive Behavior, 30(1), 3–17. (Link)

Selected Presentations

• Casper, M. O. (2026): “Inviting the Zoon Logon Echon to the Crew. How to scale up 4E cognition.” Invited Talk at the Workshop “From Life to Mind: The Return of Hylemorphism in Embodied Cognition,” Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, University of Heidelberg, September 2–3 (English)
  Casper, M. O. (2026): “A Bio-Statistical Framework for 4E Cognition.” Poster at the 33rd Conference of the ESPP, Utrecht University, June 30–July 1 (English)
  Casper, M. O. (2026): "Modeling the Motley Crew: A Formative DSEM Approach to Situated Cognition." Talk at the conference "Measuring the Mind: Conceptual Issues in Psychology, Psychiatry, and Cognitive Science," University of Bucharest, May 29–30 (English)
  Casper, M. O. (2026): “From Motley Crews to Robust Frameworks: Patterning Complexity in 4E Research.” Talk at the conference “Embodied Cognition and Comparative Psychology,” University of Murcia, May 5–7 (English)
• Casper, M. O. (2025): "Modeling Cognition's Complexity: A Dual Approach to the Motley Crew Argument." Talk at the ISPSM 2025 Annual Conference, October 24–26 (English)
• Casper, M. O. (2025): “From Motley Crews to Robust Frameworks: Patterning Complexity in Cross-Kingdom Behavioral Science.” Talk at the workshop “Behavior Across the Tree of Life: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges,” KU Leuven (Belgium), Institute for Philosophy, September 26–27 (English)
• Casper, M. O. (2025): "How Can Structural Equation Models Be Applied in a 4E Context?" Invited talk at the PECoG (Potsdam Embodied Cognition Group) Lab Meeting, University of Potsdam, UFS Cognitive Science, Chair for Cognitive Science (Prof. Martin Fischer), July 25 (English)
• Casper, M. O. (2025): “Modeling Behavioral Complexity: A Dual Approach to the Motley Crew Argument.” Talk at the conference “The Enactive Approach Between Philosophy and Science,” Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), June 3–5 (English)
• Casper, M. O., Artese, G. F. (2025): “Cognition at Work: Toward a Hands-on Science of the Mind.” Talk at the conference “Cognitive Tools in Action,” University of Messina (Italy), May 28–30 (English)
• Casper, M. O. (2025): “The More the Merrier: On Integrating Philosophy of Mind and Behavioral Biology.” Invited talk at the DPZ (Center for Behavioral Biology & Primatology; Germany), University of Göttingen (English)