Cognition and Tool Use: The Blacksmith at Work / Edition 1

by Charles M. Keller, Janet Dixon Keller

Overview

Taking their inspiration from the ancient skill of blacksmithing, the authors of this book take a fresh look at the mental processes involved in the accomplishment of goals. They analyze the way people apply what they know in order to reach a particular end, whether it is material or conceptual, routine or novel. The authors, anthropologists Janet and Charles Keller, provide an account of human accomplishment based on a detailed study of contemporary blacksmiths. The cognitive realm of blacksmithing is of particular interest because it relies on visual imagery and physical virtuosity rather than verbal logic, the conventional yardstick of cognition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521552394
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/28/1996
Series:	Learning in Doing
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	220
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Profile of artist blacksmiths; 3. The stock of knowledge; 4. Constellations for action; 5. Emergence and accomplishment in an account of production; 6. Imagery in ironwork; 7. Beyond blacksmithing.

Editorial Reviews

"An important contribution to an anthropology of knowledge that departs from and takes into account the impressive body of work on the cognitive anthropology of the 1960's and '70s." G.E. Marcus, Choice

From the Publisher