Sir Geoffrey Lloyd presents a cross-disciplinary 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 savors of
racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the
specters of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs
systems and their mutual unintelligibility.
Lloyd surveys a fascinating range of subjects, examining where
different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical,
anthropological and historical can take us. He discusses color
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. To avoid the
pitfalls of misleading dichotomies (especially between
cross-cultural universalism and cultural relativism) he pays due
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. He 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.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
