Extended cognition and humility

Extended cognition is when cognitive processes extend beyond the brain and nervous system of the subject, and in the process properly include such ‘external’ devices as technology. This paper explores what relevance extended cognitive processes might have for humility, and especially for the specifically cognitive aspect of humility—viz., intellectual humility. As regards humility in general, it is argued that there are no in principle barriers to extended cognitive processes helping to enable the development and manifestation of this character trait, but that there may be limitations to the extent to which one’s manifestation of humility can be dependent upon these processes, at least insofar as we follow orthodoxy and treat humility as a virtue. As regards the cognitive trait of intellectual humility in particular, the question becomes whether this can itself be an extended cognitive process. It is argued that this wouldn’t be a plausible conception of intellectual humility, at least insofar as we treat intellectual humility (like humility in general) as a virtue.