Evolutionary Epistemology Language And Culture

Author : Nathalie Gontier,Jean Paul van Bendegem,Diederik Aerts
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 494 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2006-07-25
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781402033957

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Evolutionary Epistemology, Language and Culture by Nathalie Gontier,Jean Paul van Bendegem,Diederik Aerts Pdf

For the first time in history, scholars working on language and culture from within an evolutionary epistemological framework, and thereby emphasizing complementary or deviating theories of the Modern Synthesis, were brought together. Of course there have been excellent conferences on Evolutionary Epistemology in the past, as well as numerous conferences on the topics of Language and Culture. However, until now these disciplines had not been brought together into one all-encompassing conference. Moreover, previously there never had been such stress on alternative and complementary theories of the Modern Synthesis. Today we know that natural selection and evolution are far from synonymous and that they do not explain isomorphic phenomena in the world. ‘Taking Darwin seriously’ is the way to go, but today the time has come to take alternative and complementary theories that developed after the Modern Synthesis, equally seriously, and, furthermore, to examine how language and culture can merit from these diverse disciplines. As this volume will make clear, a specific inter- and transdisciplinary approach is one of the next crucial steps that needs to be taken, if we ever want to unravel the secrets of phenomena such as language and culture.

Author : H C Plotkin
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 505 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Evolution
ISBN : 0608163465

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Learning, Development, and Culture by H C Plotkin Pdf

Author : Franz M. Wuketits
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789400971271

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Concepts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology by Franz M. Wuketits Pdf

The present volume brings together current interdisciplinary research which adds up to an evolutionary theory of human knowledge, Le. evolutionary epistemology. It comprises ten papers, dealing with the basic concepts, approaches and data in evolutionary epistemology and discussing some of their most important consequences. Because I am convinced that criticism, if not confused with mere polemics, is apt to stimulate the maturation of a scientific or philosophical theory, I invited Reinhard Low to present his critical view of evolutionary epistemology and to indicate some limits of our evolutionary conceptions. The main purpose of this book is to meet the urgent need of both science and philosophy for a comprehensive up-to-date approach to the problem of knowledge, going beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of scientific and philosophical thought. Evolutionary epistemology has emerged as a naturalistic and science-oriented view of knowledge taking cognizance of, and compatible with, results of biological, psychological, anthropological and linguistic inquiries concerning the structure and development of man's cognitive apparatus. Thus, evolutionary epistemology serves as a frame work for many contemporary discussions of the age-old problem of human knowledge.

Author : Kai Hahlweg,Clifford Alan Hooker
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 624 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 1989-01-01
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0791400123

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Issues in Evolutionary Epistemology by Kai Hahlweg,Clifford Alan Hooker Pdf

This book provides the fullest philosophical examination of theories of evolutionary epistemology now available. Here for the first time are found major statements of new theories, new applications, and many new critical explorations. The book is divided into four parts: Part I introduces several new approaches to evolutionary epistemology; Part II attempts to widen the scope of evolutionary epistemology, either by tackling more traditional epistemological issues, or by applying evolutionary models to new areas of inquiry such as the evolution of culture or of intentionality; Part III critically discusses specific problems in evolutionary epistemology; and Part IV deals with the relationship of evolutionary epistemology to the philosophy of mind. Because of its intellectual depth and its breadth of coverage, Issues in Evolutionary Epistemology will be an important text in the field for many years to come.

Author : W. Callebaut,R. Pinxten
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 453 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789400939677

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Evolutionary Epistemology by W. Callebaut,R. Pinxten Pdf

This volume has its already distant or1g1n in an inter national conference on Evolutionary Epistemology the editors organized at the University of Ghent in November 1984. This conference aimed to follow up the endeavor started at the ERISS (Epistemologically Relevant Internalist Sociology of Science) conference organized by Don Campbell and Alex Rosen berg at Cazenovia Lake, New York, in June 1981, whilst in jecting the gist of certain current continental intellectual developments into a debate whose focus, we thought, was in danger of being narrowed too much, considering the still underdeveloped state of affairs in the field. Broadly speaking, evolutionary epistemology today con sists of two interrelated, yet qualitatively distinct inves tigative efforts. Both are drawing on Darwinian concepts, which may explain why many people have failed to discriminate them. One is the study of the evolution of the cognitive apparatus of living organisms, which is first and foremost the province of biologists and psychologists (H. C. Plotkin, Ed. , Learning, Development, and Culture: Essays in Evolu tionary Epistemology, New York, Wiley, 1984), although quite a few philosophers - professional or vocational - have also felt the need to express themselves on this vast subject (F. M. Wuketits, Ed. , Conce ts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology, Dordrecht Boston, Reidel, 1984). The other approach deals with the evolution of science, and has been dominated hitherto by (allegedly) 'naturalized' philosophers; no book-length survey of this literature is available at present.

Author : Franz M. Wuketits
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1990-07-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781438424514

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Evolutionary Epistemology and its Implications for Humankind by Franz M. Wuketits Pdf

This books aims to outline the scientific (biological) foundations of evolutionary epistemology, and to discuss its implications for humankind. Wuketits covers all aspects of evolutionary epistemology, including its empirical foundations and its philosophical and anthropological consequences, providng an accessible introduction with a minimum of jargon.

Author : Stefan Linquist
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 659 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781351890144

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The Evolution of Culture by Stefan Linquist Pdf

Recent years have seen a transformation in thinking about the nature of culture. Rather than viewing culture in opposition to biology, a growing number of researchers now regard culture as subject to evolutionary processes. Recent developments in this field have shifted some of the traditional academic fault lines. Alliances are forming between researchers trained in anthropology, evolutionary biology, psychology and philosophy. Meanwhile, several distinct schools of thought have appeared which differ in their vision of what an evolutionary approach to culture should look like. This volume contains some of the most influential publications on these subjects from the past few decades. A theoretical background chapter and critical introduction identify the core issues at stake in the new study of cultural evolution. These chapters are followed by sections on each of the four dominant approaches: the phylogenetic approach, memetics, dual inheritance theory and niche construction. Following these are two chapters on closely related topics: the psychological mechanisms of culture and the existence of culture in non-human animals. Overall, this volume provides an up to date overview of some of the most exciting trends in contemporary evolutionary thought.

Author : Michael Wheeler,John M. Ziman,Margaret A. Boden
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : History
ISBN : 0197262627

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The Evolution of Cultural Entities by Michael Wheeler,John M. Ziman,Margaret A. Boden Pdf

Ever since Darwin, scholars have noted that cultural entities such as languages, laws and theories seem to evolve through variation, selection and replication. These essays consider whether this comparison is just a metaphor.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UVA:X006121641

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The Promise of Evolutionary Epistemology by Anonim Pdf

Because the human cognitive system is the product of an evolutionary process, we may expect that for its understanding an evolutionary perspective may be helpful. This collection argues that the analysis of such different domains as perception, self-identity, human rationality, and culture does indeed profit from an evolutionary approach. However, before the evolutionary project gets started, evolutionary epistemology faces a number of charges: incoherence, irrelevance, mental suicide, circularity, including Stich's charge that the evolutionary argument in favor of the reliability and rationality of our everyday knowledge is based mainly on false premises. This book answers these charges.

Author : Nicholas Rescher
Publisher : University Press of America
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0819177555

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Evolution, Cognition, and Realism by Nicholas Rescher Pdf

This collection of essays originated from an interdisciplinary conference on 'Evolutionary Epistemology' held in Pittsburgh in December of 1988 under the sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Philosophy of Science. Contents: Epistemological Roles for Selection Theory, by Donald T. Campbell; Evolutionary Models of Science, by Ronald N. Giere; Should Epistemologists Take Darwin Seriously? by Michael Bradie; Natural Selection, Justification, and Inference to the Best Explanation, by Alan H. Goldman; Interspecific Competition, Evolutionary Epistemology, and Ecology, by Kristin Shrader-Frechette; Toward Making Evolutionary Epistemology into a Truly Naturalized Epistemology, by William Bechtel; Confessions of a Creationist, by C. Kenneth Waters. Co-published with the Center for Philosophy of Science.

Author : William F. Harms
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2004-04-26
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781139451628

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Information and Meaning in Evolutionary Processes by William F. Harms Pdf

This book is intended to help transform epistemology - the traditional study of knowledge - into a rigorous discipline by removing conceptual roadblocks and developing formal tools required for a fully naturalized epistemology. The evolutionary approach which Harms favours begins with the common observation that if our senses and reasoning were not reliable, then natural selection would have eliminated them long ago. The challenge for some time has been how to transform these informal musings about evolutionary epistemology into a rigorous theoretical discipline capable of complementing current scientific studies of the evolution of cognition with a philosophically defensible account of meaning and justification.

Author : Cecilia Heyes,David L. Hull
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2001-07-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780791490174

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Selection Theory and Social Construction by Cecilia Heyes,David L. Hull Pdf

In his long career, Donald T. Campbell made important contributions to social psychology, anthropology, sociology, education, science studies, and epistemology. In this anthology, the authors concentrate on his epistemology, in particular his evolutionary, naturalistic epistemology. The four philosophers, two psychologists, a sociologist, and specialists in science studies and education discuss Campbell's contributions, explaining and criticizing them in a comprehensive way. Campbell and his ideas are treated in a strikingly new light—Campbell enters the new millennium.

Author : Walter A. Koch
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1986
Category : Reference
ISBN : UOM:39015013328342

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Evolutionary Cultural Semiotics by Walter A. Koch Pdf

Author : Henry Plotkin
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674192818

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Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge by Henry Plotkin Pdf

Learn and survive. Behind this simple equation lies a revolution in the study of knowledge, which has left the halls of philosophy for the labs of science. This book offers a cogent account of what such a move does to our understanding of the nature of learning, rationality, and intelligence. Bringing together evolutionary biology, psychology, and philosophy, Henry Plotkin presents a new science of knowledge, one that traces an unbreakable link between instinct and our ability to know. Contrary to the modern liberal idea that knowledge is something derived from experience, this science shows us that what we know is what our nature allows us to know, what our instincts tell us we must know. Since our ability to know our world depends primarily on what we call intelligence, intelligence must be understood as an extension of instinct. Drawing on contemporary evolutionary theory, especially notions of hierarchical structure and universal Darwinism, Plotkin tells us that the capacity for knowledge, which is what makes us human, is deeply rooted in our biology and, in a special sense, is shared by all living things. This leads to a discussion of animal and human intelligence as well as an appraisal of what an instinct-based capacity for knowledge might mean to our understanding of language, reasoning, emotion, and culture. The result is nothing less than a three-dimensional theory of our nature, in which all knowledge is adaptation and all adaptation is a specific form of knowledge.

Author : Richard Joyce
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 569 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2017-08-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781317655565

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The Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy by Richard Joyce Pdf

In recent years, the relation between contemporary academic philosophy and evolutionary theory has become ever more active, multifaceted, and productive. The connection is a bustling two-way street. In one direction, philosophers of biology make significant contributions to theoretical discussions about the nature of evolution (such as "What is a species?"; "What is reproductive fitness?"; "Does selection operate primarily on genes?"; and "What is an evolutionary function?"). In the other direction, a broader group of philosophers appeal to Darwinian selection in an attempt to illuminate traditional philosophical puzzles (such as "How could a brain-state have representational content?"; "Are moral judgments justified?"; "Why do we enjoy fiction?"; and "Are humans invariably selfish?"). In grappling with these questions, this interdisciplinary collection includes cutting-edge examples from both directions of traffic. The thirty contributions, written exclusively for this volume, are divided into six sections: The Nature of Selection; Evolution and Information; Human Nature; Evolution and Mind; Evolution and Ethics; and Evolution, Aesthetics, and Art. Many of the contributing philosophers and psychologists are international leaders in their fields.