Human development, language and the future of mankind : the madness of culture / Louis S. Berger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berger, Louis S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology--Philosophy.

Psychology.

Human behavior--Philosophy.

Human behavior.

Psycholinguistics--Philosophy.

Psycholinguistics.

Civilization--Philosophy.

Civilization.

Social problems--Philosophy.

Social problems.

Physical Description:

viii, 177 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Summary:

Human Development, Language and the Future of Mankind offers a provocative and original analysis of the global threats to our survival. It identifies long-standing missteps in individual and cultural development that have led humanity into a widespread "pathology of normality". This madness is almost impossible to recognize because it has become the norm and its symptoms may even be admired, crippling humankind's efforts to counter the global dangers that we ourselves have created. Drawing on and integrating unorthodox thought from a broad range of disciplines including clinical psychology, linguistics, philosophy, natural science and psychoanalysis, this examination aims to alter the way in which our current global challenges are perceived, opening up new, previously inaccessible insights, and offering original and promising remedial approaches. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Understanding Our Global Dangers 1

Questions that need to be asked 1

A history of failed remedial efforts 2

The shortcomings of symptom removal 6

'Selfish' behaviors 8

Symptoms of madness 10

Choosing a starting point 12

Unavoidable paradoxes 14

2 What Is Language and Why Does It Matter? 16

An odd question 16

The received view of language 18

The separability assumption 20

The received view of the world 23

State process formalisms 28

3 Infancy and First Language Acquisition 31

The paradox 31

Learning theories 36

The competent infant and incremental learning 38

The ineffable infant and genetic theories 41

Psychodynamic models of infancy 44

Hatching and maturity 48

Choosing an infant model 51

4 Literacy and Primary Orality 56

Primary or pristine orality 57

Speculations about primary orality 59

Primary orality's ineffability 60

Literate humanity 63

Primary orality's 'theory' of language 67

The paradoxes of subjective experience 68

5 Ontogenesis and Pathology 72

Separating the individual and society 72

Individual pathology 73

Evading genesis 75

The infant's crucial step 79

Why madness? 80

The other in the mirror 82

The mad infant's mad helpers 85

Some consequences 86

The madness matures 87

A reminder 89

6 Phylogenesis and Madness 90

Group pathology 90

Background 91

The literacy-induced madness 96

The core problem 106

Reality 108

Examples of symptoms 109

Now what? 120

7 Visions of Sanity 121

Madness and sanity 121

Radical alternatives 123

The two developmental roots of sanity 126

Elementary sanity evolves 128

A contemporary model 130

8 Toward Restorative Change 135

We know the solution 135

Two pathological populations 140

Childhood and parenting 143

The world of paradox 152.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Ebook version

ISBN:

9781137415264

1137415266

OCLC:

881655917