Folkbiology / edited by Douglas L. Medin and Scott Atran.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Medin, Douglas L.

Atran, Scott, 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnobiology.

Folklore.

Cognition and culture.

Physical Description:

ix, 504 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [1999]

Summary:

The term "folkbiology" refers to people's everyday understanding of the biological world -- how they perceive, categorize, and reason about living kinds. The study of folkbiology not only sheds light on human nature, it may ultimately help us make the transition to a global economy without irreparably damaging the environment or destroying local cultures.

This book takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together the work of researchers in anthropology, cognitive and developmental psychology, biology, and philosophy of science. The issues covered include: Are folk taxonomies a first-order approximation to classical scientific taxonomies, or are they driven more directly by utilitarian concerns? How are these category schemes linked to reasoning about natural kinds? Is there any nontrivial sense in which folk-taxonomic structures are universal? What impact does science have on folk taxonomy? Together, the chapters present the current foundations of folkbiology and indicate new directions in research.

Contents:

2 Ethno-ornithology of the Ketengban People, Indonesian New Guinea / Jared Diamond, K. David Bishop 17

3 Size as Limiting the Recognition of Biodiversity in Folkbiological Classifications: One of Four Factors Governing the Cultural Recognition of Biological Taxa / Eugene Hunn 47

4 How a Folkbotanical System Can Be Both Natural and Comprehensive: One Maya Indian's View of the Plant World / Brent Berlin 71

5 Models of Subsistence and Ethnobiological Knowledge: Between Extraction and Cultivation in Southeast Asia / Roy Ellen 91

6 Itzaj Maya Folkbiological Taxonomy: Cognitive Universals and Cultural Particulars / Scott Atran 119

7 Inductive Reasoning in Folkbiological Thought / John D. Coley, Douglas L. Medin, Julia Beth Proffitt, Elizabeth Lynch, Scott Atran 205

8 The Dubbing Ceremony Revisited: Object Naming and Categorization in Infancy and Early Childhood / Sandra R. Waxman 233

9 Mechanism and Explanation in the Development of Biological Thought: The Case of Disease / Frank C. Keil, Daniel T. Levin, Bethany A. Richman, Grant Gutheil 285

10 A Developmental Perspective on Informal Biology / Giyoo Hatano, Kayoko Inagaki 321

11 Mechanical Causality in Children's "Folkbiology" / Terry Kit-fong Au, Laura F. Romo 355

12 How Biological Is Essentialism? / Susan A. Gelman, Lawrence A. Hirschfeld 403

13 Natural Kinds and Supraorganismal Individuals / Michael T. Ghiselin 447

14 Are Whales Fish? / John Dupre 461

15 Interdisciplinary Dissonance / David L. Hull 477.

Notes:

"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0262133490

026263192X

OCLC:

40339865