The debated mind : evolutionary psychology versus ethnography / edited by Harvey Whitehouse.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Whitehouse, Harvey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology.

Genetic psychology.

Physical Description:

ix, 229 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Berg, 2001.

Summary:

In a further development of the nature-nurture debate, this collection of articles questions how the human mind influences the content and organization of culture. In the study of mental activity, can the effects of evolution and history be teased apart?

Evolutionary psychologists argue that cultural transmission is constrained by our genetic inheritance. Few social and cultural anthropologists have found this argument to be relevant to their work and many would doubt its validity. This book uniquely pitches the arguments for innatism against ethnographic perspectives which call into question the theoretical foundations of orthodox evolutionary biology and cognitive science. Ultimately the aim of the debate is to create an original set of mutually compatible theories that will open up new areas for interdisciplinary research.

Contents:

1 Mental Modularity and Cultural Diversity / Dan Sperber 23

2 Cultural Inheritance Tracks and Cognitive Predispositions: The Example of Religious Concepts / Pascal Boyer 57

3 Some Elements of a Science of Culture / Henry Plotkin 91

4 From the Transmission of Representations to the Education of Attention / Tim Ingold 113

5 The Child in Mind / Christina Toren 155

6 Steps to an Integration of Developmental Cognitivism and Depth Psychology / Charles W. Nuckolls 181

Conclusion: Towards a Reconciliation / Harvey Whitehouse 203.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1859734278

1859734324

OCLC:

45766694