Dan Sperber

Sabemos que cada cerebro está poblado por gran número de ideas que determinan su conducta. Las ideas pueden transmitirse de una persona a otra, y también propagarse. Algunas se difunden tan eficazmente que, en distintas versiones, pueden acabar invadiendo de forma perdurable a poblaciones enteras. La cultura esta constituida, en primer y principal lugar, por ideas contagiosas de este estilo. Para Dan SPERBER explicar la cultura es interpretar por que y como hay ideas que son contagiosas. Esto requiere la elaboracion de una autentica epidemiologia de las representaciones. La palabra epidemiologia no se limita a las enfermedades; proviene del griego epidemia que significa permanencia en un pais o llegada a el. En su uso mas habitual, este termino se referia a la permanencia, la llegada de personas, o tambien de cosas, como la lluvia, las enfermedades o, incluso, las costumbres. Un enfoque naturalista de la cultura requiere considerar la distribucion de diversos fenomenos mentales y ambientales. La perspectiva de la cultura que Dan SPERBER defiende es, a la vez, epidemiologica y cognitiva, y esta mas relacionada con el darwinismo en su vertiente cognitiva que con la epidemiologica. Este libro interesara a quienes se preocupan por el impacto de la revolucion cognitiva en nuestra comprension de la cultura. Sus controvertidas ideas estimularan el debate en el ambito de la psicologia cognitiva, de las ciencias sociales y de la filosofia. Dan SPERBER es Director de investigacion en el Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de Paris. Ha sido profesor visitante en la Princeton University, The London School of Economics y The University of Michigan.

El simbolismo crea una orientación cultural común a los miembros de una sociedad sin excluir las diferencias de interpretación individual. Como el simbolismo es uno de los fundamentos antropológicos de la libertad, el poder, en todas sus modalidades, procura obstinadamente reprimirlo.

La raison, dit-on, est ce qui rend les humains supérieurs aux autres animaux. Si elle est un tel atout, pourquoi n’a-t-elle évolué que dans notre espèce ? Pourquoi nos opinions et nos actions sont-el

« Quelles idées vont se développer dans les prochaines années ? Comment vont-elles modifier notre conception de la pensée ? Quel impact peuvent-elles avoir sur notre existence personnelle, notre réal

Doù viennent nos idées ? Certaines, de nous-mêmes, du moins le croyons-nous, mais la plupart nous sont transmises par les autres et nous les répercutons à notre tour. La vieille question philosophiqu

GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017Original and provocative ... likely to have a big impact on our understanding of ourselves Steven PinkerMercier and Sperber offer a surprising and powerful response to the new orthodoxy propounded by Kahneman and Tversky ... arguing that the supposed flaws of hot, fast, automatic thinking are actually design features which work remarkably well Julian BagginiReason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. But, if reason is so useful, why didnt it also evolve in other animals? If it is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense?In their ground-breaking account of the evolution and workings of reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber set out to solve this double enigma, taking us on a journey from desert ants to modern scientists, and from Aristotle to Daniel Kahneman. Reason, they argue with a compelling mix of real-life and experimental evidence, is not geared to solitary use, to arriving at better beliefs and decisions on our own. What reason does, rather, is help us justify our beliefs and actions to others, convince them through argumentation, and evaluate the justifications and arguments that they address to us.In other words, reason has evolved to help humans better exploit their uniquely rich social environment. This illuminating interpretation of reason makes sense of strengths and weaknesses that have long puzzled philosophers and psychologists - why reason is biased in favour of what we already believe, why it may lead to terrible ideas and yet is indispensable to spreading good ones. Ambitious, provocative, and entertaining, The Enigma of Reason will spark debate among psychologists and philosophers, and make many reasonable people rethink their own thinking.

If reason is what makes us human then why do we humans often behave so irrationally Taking us from desert ants to Aristotle cognitive psychologists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber explore how our flawed superpower of reason works how it doesn t and how it evolved to help us develop as social beings Original and provocative likely to have a big impact on our understanding of ourselves Steven Pinker Brilliant elegant and compelling turns reason s weaknesses into strengths arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well A timely and necessary book Julian Baggini Financial Times Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber have solved one of the most important and longstanding puzzles in psychology Jonathan Haidt Reason is more likely to confirm things that we want to be true or which we already believe So why does it exist This book provides the answer Alex Dean Prospect