The Recursive Mind : : The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization - Updated Edition / / Michael C. Corballis.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
• VerfasserIn: Corballis, Michael C.,
• TeilnehmendeR: Corballis, Michael C.
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2014]; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Edition: Updated edition with a New Foreword
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.) :; 6 halftones. 9 line illus. 2 maps.

The Recursive Mind challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In this compelling book, Michael Corballis argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. "I think, therefore I am," is an example of recursive thought, because the thinker has inserted himself into his thought. Recursion enables us to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It also gives us the power of mental "time travel"--the ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future ones, into present consciousness. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, animal behavior, anthropology, and archaeology, Corballis demonstrates how these recursive structures led to the emergence of language and speech, which ultimately enabled us to share our thoughts, plan with others, and reshape our environment to better reflect our creative imaginations. He shows how the recursive mind was critical to survival in the harsh conditions of the Pleistocene epoch, and how it evolved to foster social cohesion. He traces how language itself adapted to recursive thinking, first through manual gestures, then later, with the emergence of Homo sapiens, vocally. Toolmaking and manufacture arose, and the application of recursive principles to these activities in turn led to the complexities of human civilization, the extinction of fellow large-brained hominins like the Neandertals, and our species' supremacy over the physical world.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword to the Paperback Edition -- Preface -- Chapter 1. What Is Recursion? -- Part 1 -- Language -- Chapter 2. Language and Recursion -- Chapter 3. Do Animals Have Language? -- Chapter 4. How Language Evolved from Hand to Mouth -- Part 2 -- Mental Time Travel -- Chapter 5. Reliving the Past -- Chapter 6. About Time -- Chapter 7. The Grammar of Time -- Part 3 -- Theory of Mind -- Chapter 8. Mind Reading -- Chapter 9. Language and Mind -- Part 4 -- Human Evolution -- Chapter 10. The Recurring Question -- Chapter 11. Becoming Human -- Chapter 12. Becoming Modern -- Chapter 13. Final Thoughts -- Notes -- References -- Index