The symbolic species : the co-evolution of language and the brain
著者
書誌事項
The symbolic species : the co-evolution of language and the brain
W.W. Norton, c1997
- : pbk
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注記
Bibliography: p. 489-510
Includes index
内容説明・目次
- 巻冊次
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ISBN 9780393038385
内容説明
A fascinating new theory traces the origin of language back to the development of the human pair bond and shows how language propelled human brain evolution. The greatest mystery of evolution is the development of human language, a form of communication different from anything else in nature. This exciting book advances Terrence Deacon's entirely new explanation of the most remarkable accident in the history of life. Departing from conventional theories of language as arising, somehow, once the human brain became large and complex enough, Deacon shows how the human brain and language developed in concert, explains the process by which this occurred, and draws out the compelling implications of this new view of human origins. The most intriguing of these implications is a new explanation of language's adaptive purpose. Delivering a knockout blow to the traditional idea that language evolved to meet the needs of hunting males, Deacon argues that the seeds of language grew and developed in pair bonding between proto- and early-human males and femalesin other words, because of the special needs of the human family. Drawing on the author's own breakthroughs in human and comparative neuroscience (including why other intelligent animals are incapable of language) and in evolutionary anthropology, and on the latest findings of research on artificial life and artificial intelligence, this is science writing at its best, a book that will profoundly alter our understanding of what it means to be human.
- 巻冊次
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: pbk ISBN 9780393317541
内容説明
This revolutionary book provides fresh answers to long-standing questions of human origins and consciousness. Drawing on his breakthrough research in comparative neuroscience, Terrence Deacon offers a wealth of insights into the significance of symbolic thinking: from the co-evolutionary exchange between language and brains over two million years of hominid evolution to the ethical repercussions that followed man's newfound access to other people's thoughts and emotions.
Informing these insights is a new understanding of how Darwinian processes underlie the brain's development and function as well as its evolution. In contrast to much contemporary neuroscience that treats the brain as no more or less than a computer, Deacon provides a new clarity of vision into the mechanism of mind. It injects a renewed sense of adventure into the experience of being human.
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