Geoffrey Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214617
- eISBN:
- 9780191706493
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214617.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain ...
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This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.Less
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.
Alan K. Bowman and Michael Brady (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262962
- eISBN:
- 9780191734533
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262962.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Methodology and Techniques
These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance ...
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These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance historians' understanding of the period from which the objects came (in this case, the remote past). In interpreting artefacts, the historian acts out a perceptual-cognitive task of transforming often noisy and impoverished signals into semantically rich symbols that have to be set within a cultural and historical context. Engineering scientists, equipped with a range of sophisticated techniques, equipment and highly specialised knowledge, are not always as aware as they might be of the range and the exact nature of problems faced by historians in interpreting objects of material culture. By providing the opportunity for scholars from these communities to explain to each other what they are doing and how, the chapters explore the ways in which the scientific contributors and the historians are thinking about subjectivity of interpretation, visual cognition, and the need to improve methods of presenting evidence so as to feed directly back into their own scientific thinking and to encourage genuine innovation in their approach to developing methods of image-enhancement and interpretation of objects. A significant further dimension is the improvement of techniques of providing high quality images of important and valuable collections of original artefacts to scholars who cannot always study the originals directly. Another important development discussed here is the fact that such imaging techniques now offer the researcher valuable insurance against the processes of deterioration to which such artefacts are inevitably subject. Seven of the chapters are scientific and technical, while the other eight have an archaeological or historical focus.Less
These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance historians' understanding of the period from which the objects came (in this case, the remote past). In interpreting artefacts, the historian acts out a perceptual-cognitive task of transforming often noisy and impoverished signals into semantically rich symbols that have to be set within a cultural and historical context. Engineering scientists, equipped with a range of sophisticated techniques, equipment and highly specialised knowledge, are not always as aware as they might be of the range and the exact nature of problems faced by historians in interpreting objects of material culture. By providing the opportunity for scholars from these communities to explain to each other what they are doing and how, the chapters explore the ways in which the scientific contributors and the historians are thinking about subjectivity of interpretation, visual cognition, and the need to improve methods of presenting evidence so as to feed directly back into their own scientific thinking and to encourage genuine innovation in their approach to developing methods of image-enhancement and interpretation of objects. A significant further dimension is the improvement of techniques of providing high quality images of important and valuable collections of original artefacts to scholars who cannot always study the originals directly. Another important development discussed here is the fact that such imaging techniques now offer the researcher valuable insurance against the processes of deterioration to which such artefacts are inevitably subject. Seven of the chapters are scientific and technical, while the other eight have an archaeological or historical focus.
Anne-Lise Christensen, Elkhonon Goldberg, and Dmitri Bougakov (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195176704
- eISBN:
- 9780199864706
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176704.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
Alexandr Romanovich Luria was one of the foremost neuropsychologists of the 20th Century and the field of neuropsychology was created, in large part, due to his research on patients with brain ...
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Alexandr Romanovich Luria was one of the foremost neuropsychologists of the 20th Century and the field of neuropsychology was created, in large part, due to his research on patients with brain lesions during the Second World War. Throughout his career, his insights on thought processes and aphasias inspired and challenged the discipline and his students. Luria's Legacy in the 21st Century is a collection of essays by leading neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists to honor Alexandr Romanovich Luria and to highlight the enduring impact of his legacy on cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, and neurorehabilitation. A wide range of topics are covered, from functional neuroimaging in neuropsychology to bedside evaluation techniques. Several generations of neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists are among contributors, including those who closely worked with Luria, their own students, and others influenced in their work by Luria's pioneering insights. Broad in scope and rich in detail, Luria's Legacy in the 21st Century provides a window into the world of the great neuropsychologist. Each essay suggests that Luria's impact will be felt far into the future.Less
Alexandr Romanovich Luria was one of the foremost neuropsychologists of the 20th Century and the field of neuropsychology was created, in large part, due to his research on patients with brain lesions during the Second World War. Throughout his career, his insights on thought processes and aphasias inspired and challenged the discipline and his students. Luria's Legacy in the 21st Century is a collection of essays by leading neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists to honor Alexandr Romanovich Luria and to highlight the enduring impact of his legacy on cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, and neurorehabilitation. A wide range of topics are covered, from functional neuroimaging in neuropsychology to bedside evaluation techniques. Several generations of neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists are among contributors, including those who closely worked with Luria, their own students, and others influenced in their work by Luria's pioneering insights. Broad in scope and rich in detail, Luria's Legacy in the 21st Century provides a window into the world of the great neuropsychologist. Each essay suggests that Luria's impact will be felt far into the future.
Michael Spivey
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195170788
- eISBN:
- 9780199786831
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170788.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
The cognitive and neural sciences have been on the brink of a paradigm shift for over a decade. This book is intended to help galvanize the forces of dynamical systems theory, cognitive and ...
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The cognitive and neural sciences have been on the brink of a paradigm shift for over a decade. This book is intended to help galvanize the forces of dynamical systems theory, cognitive and computational neuroscience, connectionism, and ecological psychology that are needed to complete this paradigm shift. The book lays bare the fact that comprehending a spoken sentence, understanding a visual scene, or just thinking about the day's events involves the serial coalescing of different neuronal activation patterns, i.e., a state-space trajectory that flirts with a series of point attractors. As a result, the brain cannot help but spend most of its time instantiating patterns of activity that are in between identifiable mental states rather than in them. The chapters are arranged to present a systematic overview of how perception, cognition, and action are partially overlapping segments of one continuous mental flow, rather than three distinct mental systems. The early chapters provide experiential demonstrations of the gray areas in mental activity that happen in between discretely labeled mental events, as well as geometric visualizations of attractors in state space that make the dynamical-systems framework seem less mathematically abstract. The middle chapters present scores of behavioral and neurophysiological studies that portray the continuous temporal dynamics inherent in categorization, language comprehension, visual perception, as well as attention, action, and reasoning. The final chapters conclude with discussions of what the mind itself must look like if its activity is continuous in time and its contents are distributed in state space.Less
The cognitive and neural sciences have been on the brink of a paradigm shift for over a decade. This book is intended to help galvanize the forces of dynamical systems theory, cognitive and computational neuroscience, connectionism, and ecological psychology that are needed to complete this paradigm shift. The book lays bare the fact that comprehending a spoken sentence, understanding a visual scene, or just thinking about the day's events involves the serial coalescing of different neuronal activation patterns, i.e., a state-space trajectory that flirts with a series of point attractors. As a result, the brain cannot help but spend most of its time instantiating patterns of activity that are in between identifiable mental states rather than in them. The chapters are arranged to present a systematic overview of how perception, cognition, and action are partially overlapping segments of one continuous mental flow, rather than three distinct mental systems. The early chapters provide experiential demonstrations of the gray areas in mental activity that happen in between discretely labeled mental events, as well as geometric visualizations of attractors in state space that make the dynamical-systems framework seem less mathematically abstract. The middle chapters present scores of behavioral and neurophysiological studies that portray the continuous temporal dynamics inherent in categorization, language comprehension, visual perception, as well as attention, action, and reasoning. The final chapters conclude with discussions of what the mind itself must look like if its activity is continuous in time and its contents are distributed in state space.
Arthur S. Reber
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195106589
- eISBN:
- 9780199871698
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195106589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
The book is an extended essay on implicit learning, a topic that emerged in recent years as an important but previously overlooked process. Implicit learning is learning that takes place independent ...
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The book is an extended essay on implicit learning, a topic that emerged in recent years as an important but previously overlooked process. Implicit learning is learning that takes place independent of both the process and products of learning. It occurs without the intention to learn and largely without awareness of the nature of what has been learned. The process is “bottom-up”; information is acquired automatically when individuals focus attention on complex displays; and the knowledge base is “tacit” and largely opaque to introspection. Examples abound in everyday life, notably natural language learning and the acquisition of the mores of social behavior. A core assumption is that this implicit acquisitional mechanism is a fundamental “root” process that is based on evolutionarily old neurological structures and lies at the heart of the adaptive behavioral repertoire of every complex organism. Firstly, the book outlines the essential features of implicit learning that have emerged from controlled studies carried out over the past several decades. It also presents alternative perspectives that have been proposed and accommodates these views to the proposed theoretical model. It then structures the literature within the framework of Darwinian evolutionary biology that lies at the core of the theory. Finally, it shows how the evolutionary stance makes a series of predictions about how functions based on implicit mechanisms should differ from those mediated by consciousness.Less
The book is an extended essay on implicit learning, a topic that emerged in recent years as an important but previously overlooked process. Implicit learning is learning that takes place independent of both the process and products of learning. It occurs without the intention to learn and largely without awareness of the nature of what has been learned. The process is “bottom-up”; information is acquired automatically when individuals focus attention on complex displays; and the knowledge base is “tacit” and largely opaque to introspection. Examples abound in everyday life, notably natural language learning and the acquisition of the mores of social behavior. A core assumption is that this implicit acquisitional mechanism is a fundamental “root” process that is based on evolutionarily old neurological structures and lies at the heart of the adaptive behavioral repertoire of every complex organism. Firstly, the book outlines the essential features of implicit learning that have emerged from controlled studies carried out over the past several decades. It also presents alternative perspectives that have been proposed and accommodates these views to the proposed theoretical model. It then structures the literature within the framework of Darwinian evolutionary biology that lies at the core of the theory. Finally, it shows how the evolutionary stance makes a series of predictions about how functions based on implicit mechanisms should differ from those mediated by consciousness.
John A. Sloboda
- Published in print:
- 1986
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198521280
- eISBN:
- 9780191706257
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198521280.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This book describes and analyses the cognitive processes that take place in the perception, performance, and creation of music. It proposes that underlying the various musical skills is the ability ...
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This book describes and analyses the cognitive processes that take place in the perception, performance, and creation of music. It proposes that underlying the various musical skills is the ability to form abstract mental representations of music, which allow it to be apprehended in structural terms. In this respect, the analogy to language is paramount. The book reviews the experimental literature on music-language overlaps, performance, composition and improvization, listening, learning and development, and culture and biology. It assesses this literature and also examines areas where research is lacking, from the perspective of a cognitive psychologist who is also an active performing musician.Less
This book describes and analyses the cognitive processes that take place in the perception, performance, and creation of music. It proposes that underlying the various musical skills is the ability to form abstract mental representations of music, which allow it to be apprehended in structural terms. In this respect, the analogy to language is paramount. The book reviews the experimental literature on music-language overlaps, performance, composition and improvization, listening, learning and development, and culture and biology. It assesses this literature and also examines areas where research is lacking, from the perspective of a cognitive psychologist who is also an active performing musician.
Todd Tremlin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305340
- eISBN:
- 9780199784721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved ...
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This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.Less
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.
D. Jason Slone
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195169263
- eISBN:
- 9780199835256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195169263.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
People believe what they shouldn’t because they have active minds that are continuously engaged in the construction of novel thoughts, and in the transformation of culturally transmitted ideas. The ...
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People believe what they shouldn’t because they have active minds that are continuously engaged in the construction of novel thoughts, and in the transformation of culturally transmitted ideas. The key to understanding religion is to identify the aspects of cognition that constrain religious behavior. Given the fact that religion is a natural by-product of cognition, studies of religion should include cognitive psychology in addition to theology and ethnography.Less
People believe what they shouldn’t because they have active minds that are continuously engaged in the construction of novel thoughts, and in the transformation of culturally transmitted ideas. The key to understanding religion is to identify the aspects of cognition that constrain religious behavior. Given the fact that religion is a natural by-product of cognition, studies of religion should include cognitive psychology in addition to theology and ethnography.
Annette Miae Kim
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195369397
- eISBN:
- 9780199871032
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369397.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Why have some countries been able to escape the usual dead end of international development efforts and build explosively growing capitalist economies? Based on years of fieldwork, this book provides ...
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Why have some countries been able to escape the usual dead end of international development efforts and build explosively growing capitalist economies? Based on years of fieldwork, this book provides an account of the first generation of entrepreneurs in Vietnam in comparison to those in other transition countries. Focusing on the emergence of private land development firms in Ho Chi Minh City, this book shows how within seven years the private sector produced the majority of all new houses in the real estate market. This book demonstrates that capitalist entrepreneurialism was not the result of state initiative, properly incentivized policies, or individual personality traits. Rather, a society-wide reconstruction of cognitive paradigms enabled entrepreneurs to emerge and transform Vietnam from a poor, centrally planned economy into one of the fastest growing, market economies in the world.Less
Why have some countries been able to escape the usual dead end of international development efforts and build explosively growing capitalist economies? Based on years of fieldwork, this book provides an account of the first generation of entrepreneurs in Vietnam in comparison to those in other transition countries. Focusing on the emergence of private land development firms in Ho Chi Minh City, this book shows how within seven years the private sector produced the majority of all new houses in the real estate market. This book demonstrates that capitalist entrepreneurialism was not the result of state initiative, properly incentivized policies, or individual personality traits. Rather, a society-wide reconstruction of cognitive paradigms enabled entrepreneurs to emerge and transform Vietnam from a poor, centrally planned economy into one of the fastest growing, market economies in the world.
Sally Sedgwick
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199698363
- eISBN:
- 9780191738692
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199698363.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of ...
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This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of cognition Kant argues for in his ‘Critical’ period. It examines key features of what Kant identifies as the ‘discursive’ character of our mode of cognition, and considers Hegel’s reasons for arguing that these features condemn Kant’s theoretical philosophy to skepticism as well as dualism. This study presents in a sympathetic light Hegel’s claim to derive from certain Kantian doctrines clues to a superior form of idealism, a form of idealism that better captures the nature of our cognitive powers and their relation to objects.Less
This is a study of Hegel’s critique of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. Its main purpose is to defend the thesis that Hegel offers us a compelling critique of, and alternative to, the conception of cognition Kant argues for in his ‘Critical’ period. It examines key features of what Kant identifies as the ‘discursive’ character of our mode of cognition, and considers Hegel’s reasons for arguing that these features condemn Kant’s theoretical philosophy to skepticism as well as dualism. This study presents in a sympathetic light Hegel’s claim to derive from certain Kantian doctrines clues to a superior form of idealism, a form of idealism that better captures the nature of our cognitive powers and their relation to objects.
