The evolution of thinking : Cognitive semiotics in between deep history and the history of mentalities
Sonesson, Göran LU
(2019)
p.35-72
- Abstract
What makes human beings, and their way of thinking, unique in the biosphere of the earth is not just the biological-genetic evolution of human cognitive capacities, but also the interaction in historical time with the environment, the socio-cultural Lifeworld, and particularly human semiotic skills; that is, the ability to learn from other thinking beings, and to transfer experiences, knowledge, meaning, and views to new generations. Traditionally, history has been the singular telling of stories of our particular spatio-temporality; and the theory of evolution has consisted in studying the specific way human biology has evolved. According to the evolutionary scheme proposed by Merlin Donald, human specificity proceeds from biological... (More)
What makes human beings, and their way of thinking, unique in the biosphere of the earth is not just the biological-genetic evolution of human cognitive capacities, but also the interaction in historical time with the environment, the socio-cultural Lifeworld, and particularly human semiotic skills; that is, the ability to learn from other thinking beings, and to transfer experiences, knowledge, meaning, and views to new generations. Traditionally, history has been the singular telling of stories of our particular spatio-temporality; and the theory of evolution has consisted in studying the specific way human biology has evolved. According to the evolutionary scheme proposed by Merlin Donald, human specificity proceeds from biological to cultural evolution, from the episodic over the mimetic and the mythic stage to that of theory, that is, it transcends (natural) evolution into history. Such a continuity is taken for granted by recent historians and anthropologists turning to "deep history", quite in opposition to the singular histories of mentalities holding the stage through most of the twentieth century. But, if we take Donald's scheme seriously, there may still be a qualitative difference between biological evolution and cultural evolution as history. It might be suggested, following, notably, Stephen Jay Gould and David Hull, that the theory forged by Charles Darwin is not only involved with natural evolution, but is concerned with all sequences of events leading to the generation of variants, as well as the mechanism operating the choice between these variations. Though history emerges out of bio-cultural evolution, it still needs to be qualitatively different from (natural) evolution if it is going to account for many of the traits that are specific to human beings. Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd, who systematically worked out the parallels between natural and cultural evolution, still presented it as a metaphorical extension. Nevertheless, they neglected to reckon with the way in which cultural evolution is necessarily different from biological evolution, in that it is played out in a world in which humanity has already created the semiotic structures for the conservation of memory resulting from mimetic and mythic stages, while they are in the process of producing theoretic structures. Such structures are not only stepping stones underlying certain historical paths taken, they are also stumbling blocks on the way to others not taken, as we may learn from pondering the obstacles set to the extirpation of heresy, as the colonists saw it, in post-conquest America.
(Less)
- author
- Sonesson, Göran
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Bio-cultural co-evolution, Cognition, Deep history, Evolutionary theory, Semiotics
- host publication
- Cognitive History : Mind, Space, and Time - Mind, Space, and Time
- editor
- Dunér, David and Ahlberger, Christer
- pages
- 38 pages
- publisher
- De Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85067459559
- scopus:85131407897
- ISBN
- 9783110579673
- 9783110582383
- DOI
- 10.1515/9783110582383-002
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cd0d14c7-cd11-4541-9c57-f2008b5a1242
- date added to LUP
- 2019-06-21 19:42:37
- date last changed
- 2024-05-01 12:21:12
@inbook{cd0d14c7-cd11-4541-9c57-f2008b5a1242,
abstract = {{<p>What makes human beings, and their way of thinking, unique in the biosphere of the earth is not just the biological-genetic evolution of human cognitive capacities, but also the interaction in historical time with the environment, the socio-cultural Lifeworld, and particularly human semiotic skills; that is, the ability to learn from other thinking beings, and to transfer experiences, knowledge, meaning, and views to new generations. Traditionally, history has been the singular telling of stories of our particular spatio-temporality; and the theory of evolution has consisted in studying the specific way human biology has evolved. According to the evolutionary scheme proposed by Merlin Donald, human specificity proceeds from biological to cultural evolution, from the episodic over the mimetic and the mythic stage to that of theory, that is, it transcends (natural) evolution into history. Such a continuity is taken for granted by recent historians and anthropologists turning to "deep history", quite in opposition to the singular histories of mentalities holding the stage through most of the twentieth century. But, if we take Donald's scheme seriously, there may still be a qualitative difference between biological evolution and cultural evolution as history. It might be suggested, following, notably, Stephen Jay Gould and David Hull, that the theory forged by Charles Darwin is not only involved with natural evolution, but is concerned with all sequences of events leading to the generation of variants, as well as the mechanism operating the choice between these variations. Though history emerges out of bio-cultural evolution, it still needs to be qualitatively different from (natural) evolution if it is going to account for many of the traits that are specific to human beings. Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd, who systematically worked out the parallels between natural and cultural evolution, still presented it as a metaphorical extension. Nevertheless, they neglected to reckon with the way in which cultural evolution is necessarily different from biological evolution, in that it is played out in a world in which humanity has already created the semiotic structures for the conservation of memory resulting from mimetic and mythic stages, while they are in the process of producing theoretic structures. Such structures are not only stepping stones underlying certain historical paths taken, they are also stumbling blocks on the way to others not taken, as we may learn from pondering the obstacles set to the extirpation of heresy, as the colonists saw it, in post-conquest America.</p>}},
author = {{Sonesson, Göran}},
booktitle = {{Cognitive History : Mind, Space, and Time}},
editor = {{Dunér, David and Ahlberger, Christer}},
isbn = {{9783110579673}},
keywords = {{Bio-cultural co-evolution; Cognition; Deep history; Evolutionary theory; Semiotics}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{35--72}},
publisher = {{De Gruyter}},
title = {{The evolution of thinking : Cognitive semiotics in between deep history and the history of mentalities}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110582383-002}},
doi = {{10.1515/9783110582383-002}},
year = {{2019}},
}