Evolution and the Human Mind Modularity, Language and Meta-Cognition

How did our minds evolve? Can evolutionary considerations illuminate the question of the basic architecture of the human mind? These are two of the main questions addressed in Evolution and the Human Mind by a distinguished interdisciplinary team of philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists and archaeologists. The essays focus especially on issues to do with modularity of mind, the evolution and significance of natural language, and the evolution of our capacity for meta-cognition (thought about thought), together with its implications for consciousness. The editors have provided an introduction that lays out the background to the questions which the essays address, and a consolidated bibliography that will be a valuable reference resource for all those interested in this area. The volume will be of great interest to all researchers and students interested in the evolution and nature of the mind.

List of contributors; Preface; 1. Introduction Peter Carruthers and Andrew Chamberlain; 2. Massively modular minds: evolutionary psychology and cognitive architecture Richard Samuels; 3. Individual differences in early understanding of mind: genes, non-shared environment and modularity Claire Hughes and Robert Plomin; 4. Darwin in the madhouse: evolutionary psychology and the classification of mental disorders Dominic Murphy and Stephen Stich; 5. Evolution of the modern mind and the origins of culture: religious concepts as a limiting case Pascal Boyer; 6. Symmetry and the evolution of the modular linguistic mind Thomas Wynn; 7. Evolution, communication and the proper function of language Gloria Origgi and Dan Sperber; 8. The evolution of knowledge David Papineau; 9. Mind, brain and material culture: an archaeological perspective Steven Mithen; 10. The evolution of strategic thinking Adam Morton; 11. On the origin of the human mind Robin Dunbar; 12. The evolution of consciousness Peter Carruthers; 13. Evolution, consciousness and the internality of the mind Jim Hopkins; References; Author index; Subject index.

How did our minds evolve? Can evolutionary considerations illuminate the question of the basic architecture of the human mind? These are two of the main questions addressed in Evolution and the Human Mind by a distinguished interdisciplinary team of philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists and archaeologists.