The Mind As a Scientific Object: Between Brain and Culture Erneling, Christina E. and Johnson, David M.

Erneling, Christina E. and Johnson, David M.

ISBN 10: 0195139321 / ISBN 13: 9780195139327

Published by Oxford University Press, 2005

About this Item

Seller Inventory # RCF4-1-0063

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Mind As a Scientific Object: Between Brain and Culture Erneling, Christina E. and Johnson, David M.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195139321
• ISBN 13: 9780195139327
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

What holds together the various fields that are supposed to consititute the general intellectual discipline that people now call cognitive science? In this book, Erneling and Johnson identify two problems with defining this discipline. First, some theorists identify the common subject matter as the mind, but scientists and philosophers have not been able to agree on any single, satisfactory answer to the question of what the mind is. Second, those who speculate about the general characteristics that belong to cognitive science tend to assume that all the particular fields falling under the rubric--psychology, linguistics, biology, and son on--are of roughly equal value in their ability to shed light on the nature of mind. This book argues that all the cognitive science disciplines are not equally able to provide answers to ontological questions about the mind, but rather that only neurophysiology and cultural psychology are suited to answer these questions. However, since the cultural account of mind has long been ignored in favor of the neurophysiological account, Erneling and Johnson bring together contributions that focus especially on different versions of the cultural account of the mind.

About the Author

Christina E. Erneling is at Lund University. David M. Johnson is at York University.