Evolution and the Human Mind
Modularity, Language and Meta-Cognition
Published on 2. November 2000
Book
Hardback
348 pages
978-0-521-78331-6 (ISBN)
Description
How did our minds evolve? Can evolutionary considerations illuminate the question of the basic architecture of the human mind? These are two of the main questions addressed in Evolution and the Human Mind by a distinguished interdisciplinary team of philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists and archaeologists. The essays focus especially on issues to do with modularity of mind, the evolution and significance of natural language, and the evolution of our capacity for meta-cognition (thought about thought), together with its implications for consciousness. The editors have provided an introduction that lays out the background to the questions which the essays address, and a consolidated bibliography that will be a valuable reference resource for all those interested in this area. The volume will be of great interest to all researchers and students interested in the evolution and nature of the mind.
Reviews / Votes
'... it is the combination of its desire to pull together scholars from different disciplines and the calibre of the individual papers, often heavily interdisciplinary themselves, which deems the book a success.' Cambridge Archaeological Journal '... would recommend this book to anyone interested in the nature and evolution of human mind and language ...' JRAIMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
3 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
716 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-78331-6 (9780521783316)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
List of contributors; Preface; 1. Introduction Peter Carruthers and Andrew Chamberlain; 2. Massively modular minds: evolutionary psychology and cognitive architecture Richard Samuels; 3. Individual differences in early understanding of mind: genes, non-shared environment and modularity Claire Hughes and Robert Plomin; 4. Darwin in the madhouse: evolutionary psychology and the classification of mental disorders Dominic Murphy and Stephen Stich; 5. Evolution of the modern mind and the origins of culture: religious concepts as a limiting case Pascal Boyer; 6. Symmetry and the evolution of the modular linguistic mind Thomas Wynn; 7. Evolution, communication and the proper function of language Gloria Origgi and Dan Sperber; 8. The evolution of knowledge David Papineau; 9. Mind, brain and material culture: an archaeological perspective Steven Mithen; 10. The evolution of strategic thinking Adam Morton; 11. On the origin of the human mind Robin Dunbar; 12. The evolution of consciousness Peter Carruthers; 13. Evolution, consciousness and the internality of the mind Jim Hopkins; References; Author index; Subject index.