This paper is a dialogue between Buddhism and cognitive science. I argue that both classical Zen Buddhism and certain movements within western cognitive science offer reciprocal, mutually illuminating views of mind and self. In short, both develop congruent “extended” views of mind, arguing that mind doesn’t end at the inner limits of the skin and skull. However, despite important points of reciprocity discussed below, Zen Buddhism takes this “extended” conception of mind further by drawing out its ethical consequences.
First, I examine the ontology of the “extended mind” from the standpoint of western cognitive science. Next, I examine the Zen view of mind and (no-)self, and some of the ethical applications of this view. I here focus on the thought of the thirteenth century Japanese thinker Dogen Kigen. I conclude by showing three distinct ways that an “extended” ontology can inform important ethical considerations.