The practical mind : skill, knowledge, and intelligence / Carlotta Pavese.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pavese, Carlotta, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ability.

Intellect.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Our breathtaking intelligence is embodied in our skills. Think of Olympic gymnastics, and the amount of strength and control required to perform even a simple beam routine; think of a carpenter skillfully carving the wood, where complicated techniques come across as sheer easiness of the bodily movements; of a pianist performing a sonata, balancing technical virtuosity with elegance. Throughout our lifetimes, we acquire and refine a vast number of skills, and the improvement and refinement of skills are not bound to the human lifespan alone either: somehow, they also cross generations. Skills both foster cultural evolution and are refined by it – for example, in the way cultural evolution perfects tools and building techniques. What makes skills possible? And how can skills explain our successes? This book is the first systematic discussion of skills: of their nature, and of their relation to knowledge and reasoning"-- Cambridge Core.

Contents:

Skill

Skill in action

Intelligence socialism

Intelligence, regress, and empiricism

A theory of natural talent

Intellectualisms

Anti-intellectualism about skilled action and its discontents

Three kinds of control and the mindedness of skilled action

Practical representation and procedural control

Practical concepts and productive reasoning

An epistemic theory of strategic control

From puzzles about control, learning, and flexibility to a theory of skill

Collective skill, practices, and cumulative culture.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed April 9, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Pavese, Carlotta. Practical mind

ISBN:

9781009336895

1009336894

OCLC:

1569674912

Publisher Number:

CIPO000326720

CIPO000326721

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license