Chapter I Semiotic Brains and

$EVWUDFW Our brains make up a series of signs and are engaged in making, manifesting or reacting to a series of signs: through this semiotic activity they are at the same time engaged in " being minds " and so in thinking intelligently. An important effect of this semiotic activity of brains is a continuous process of " externalization of the mind " that exhibits a new cognitive perspective on the mechanisms underling the semiotic emergence of abductive processes of meaning formation. In this perspective we can see that at the root of thinking abilities there is a process of externalization/disembodiment of mind that presents a new cognitive perspective on the role of external models and representations. To illustrate this process I will take advantage of Turing's comparison between unorganized brains and logical and practical machines and of the analysis of some aspects of the cognitive interplay between internal and external representations. I consider this interplay critical in analyzing the 2 Magnani relation between meaningful semiotic internal resources and devices and their dynamical interactions with the externalized semiotic materiality suitably stocked in the environment.