Abstract

Over the last decade, the debate about the twin notions of «internal» and «external» has gained momentum in many disciplines (philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences, neuroscience, artificial intelligence). How are mental phenomena individuated? Where are they located? These questions have spawned two conflicting views: «internalism» and «externalism». However, it is fair to observe that many scholars give different meaning to these terms since they are biased by partially conflicting theoretical frameworks and not overlapping sets of assumptions. This paper aims to outline the current theoretical landscape that biases the internalism vs. externalism debate. Eventually, the paper fleshes out a taxonomy of different forms of externalisms as they have been put forward in philosophy of mind, analytical philosophy, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and neuroscience.