 He is known within academic philosophy for his work on the animal mind and is one of the principal architects of the view known as vehicle externalism, or the extended mind, the view that thoughts, memories, desires and beliefs can be stored outside the brain and the skull.His works include "Animal Rights" (1998), "The Body in Mind" (1999), "The Nature of Consciousness" (2001), "Animals Like Us" (2002), and a personal memoir, "The Philosopher and the Wolf" (2008).Rowlands was born in Newport, Wales and began his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Manchester before changing to philosophy.