pinker

[|wikipedia (Pinker)] popularized the idea that language is an "instinct" or [|biological adaptation] shaped by [|natural selection] rather than a by-product of general intelligence //... views the mind as a kind of Swiss-army knife equipped with a set of specialized tools (or modules) to deal with problems faced by our [|Pleistocene] ancestors//


 * BOOKS**

[|The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature] by Steven Pinker.

[|How the Mind Works] (161 readers reviews at amazon!)

[quote] The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmanoeuvering objects, animals, plants and other people ... the brain processes information and thinking is a kind of computation. The mind is organised into modules or mental organs, each with a specialised design that makes it an expert in one area of interaction with the world. The modules basic logic is specified by our genetic program ... (p. 21)

Evolutionary psychology brings together two scientific revolutions ...
 * the cognitive revolution of the 1950s and 60s (mind is computation)
 * the revolution in evolutionary biology of the 1960s and 1970s (complex adaptive design by selection among replicators)

The premises of this book are probably not what you think they are. Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind. The mind is a set of modules, but the modules are not encapsulated boxes ... The organisation comes from our genetic program, but that does not mean there is a gene for every trait or that learning is less important ... The mind is an adaptation designed by natural selection, but that does not mean that everything we think, feel, and do is biologically adaptive (p. 23) [/quote]

//I like his disclaimers, they are intriguing - needs further looking into// (Bill 6 April 08)


 * critical reviews of How the Mind Works**:

[|Could this be the worst book ever written on the human mind?] angrily attacks evolutionary psychology (but not evolution) and points to neuro psychology as refuting Pinker - recommends a couple of books, 'Affective Neuroscience' by Jaak Panksepp and Gerald Edelman's 'Bright Air, Brilliant Fire'

[|kenan malik review] " The most problematic of Pinker's notions is the idea that modern behaviour is adapted to a Stone Age way of life. 'Our brains', Pinker writes, 'are not wired to cope with anonymous crowds, schooling, written language, governments, police, courts, armies, modern medicine, formal social institutions, high technology, and other newcomers to the human experience.' Why not? After all our brains created all these things. It seems bizarre to hold that the brain is 'wired up' to invent modernity but not cope with it."

[|So how does the mind work?] Pinker reply to philosopher Jerry Fodor who published a book criticising Pinker's book

'The Language Instinct'

This article, [| Living without numbers or time], suggests that Chomsky's idea that humans inherit a universal grammar (mentalese) is wrong. It reports conflict between Chomsky and Pinker on that question.