Description
Book SynopsisThis book, which presents a cognitive-semiotic theory of cultural evolution, including that taking place in historical time, analyses various cognitive-semiotic artefacts and abilities. It claims that what makes human beings
human is fundamentally the semiotic and cultural skills by means of which they endow their Lifeworld with meaning. The properties that have made human beings special among animals living in the terrestrial biosphere do not derive entirely from their biological-genetic evolution, but also stem from their interaction with the environment, in its culturally interpreted form, the Lifeworld. This, in turn, becomes possible thanks to the human ability to learn from other thinking beings, and to transfer experiences, knowledge, meaning, and perspectives to new generations.
Table of ContentsContents: Göran Sonesson/David Dunér: The Cognitive Semiotics of Cultural Evolution – Göran Sonesson: Lifeworlds: The Cognitive Semiotics of Culture – Jordan Zlatev: Mimesis: The Role of Bodily Mimesis for the Evolution of Human Culture and Language – Gerd Carling: Language: The Role of Culture and Environment in Proto-Vocabularies – Sara Lenninger: Pictures: Perceptions of Realism in the Service of Communication – Michael Ranta: Art: On the Evolutionary Foundations of Art and Aesthetics – Anna Cabak Rédei/Michael Ranta: Narrativity: Individual and Collective Aspects of Storytelling – Chapter Seven: Religion: The Semiotics of the Axial Age – Göran Sonesson/Gunnar Sandin: Urbanity: The City as the Specifically Human Niche – David Dunér: Science: The Structure of Scientific Evolutions – David Dunér/Göran Sonesson: Encounters: The Discovery of the Unknown – Göran Sonesson: Cultural Evolution: Human History as the Continuation of Evolution by (Partially) Other Means.
