Creations of the Mind: Theories of Artifacts and their Representation

by Eric Margolis (Editor), Stephen Laurence (Editor)

Overview

Creations of the Mind presents sixteen original essays by theorists from a wide variety of disciplines who have a shared interest in the nature of artifacts and their implications for the human mind. All the papers are written specially for this volume, and they cover a broad range of topics concerned with the metaphysics of artifacts, our concepts of artifacts and the categories that they represent, the emergence of an understanding of artifacts in infants' cognitive development, as well as the evolution of artifacts and the use of tools by non-human animals. This volume will be a fascinating resource for philosophers, cognitive scientists, and psychologists, and the starting point for future research in the study of artifacts and their role in human understanding, development, and behaviour. Contributors: John R. Searle, Richard E. Grandy, Crawford L. Elder, Amie L. Thomasson, Jerrold Levinson, Barbara C. Malt, Steven A. Sloman, Dan Sperber, Hilary Kornblith, Paul Bloom, Bradford Z. Mahon, Alfonso Caramazza, Jean M. Mandler, Deborah Kelemen, Susan Carey, Frank C. Keil, Marissa L. Greif, Rebekkah S. Kerner, James L. Gould, Marc D. Hauser, Laurie R. Santos, Steven Mithen

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191530623
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/14/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	999 KB

Table of Contents

List of Contributors vii

Introduction ix

Part I Metaphysics

1 Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society John R. Searle 3

2 Artifacts: Parts and Principles Richard E. Grandy 18

3 On the Place of Artifacts in Ontology Crawford L. Elder 33

4 Artifacts and Human Concepts Amie L. Thomasson 52

5 Artworks as Artifacts Jerrold Levinson 74

Part II Concepts and Categories

6 Artifact Categorization: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Barbara C. Malt Steven A. Sloman 85

7 Seedless Grapes: Nature and Culture Dan Sperber 124

8 How to Refer to Artifacts Hilary Kornblith 138

9 Water as an Artifact Kind Paul Bloom 150

10 The Organization and Representation of Conceptual Knowledge in the Brain: Living Kinds and Artifacts Bradford Z. Mahon Alfonso Caramazza 157

Part III Cognitive Development

11 The Conceptual Foundations of Animals and Artifacts Jean M. Mandler 191

12 The Essence of Artifacts: Developing the Design Stance Deborah Kelemen Susan Carey 212

13 A World Apart: How Concepts of the Constructed World Are Different in Representation and in Development Frank C. Keil Marissa L. Greif Rebekkah S. Kerner 231

Part IV Evolution

14 Animal Artifacts James L. Gould 249

15 The Evolutionary Ancestry of Our Knowledge of Tools: From Percepts To Concepts Marc D. Hauser Laurie R. Santos 267

16 Creations of Pre-Modern Human Minds: Stone Tool Manufacture and Use by Homo habilis, heidelbergensis, and neanderthalensis Steven Mithens 289

References 312

Index 347