Description
Book SynopsisFor 200 million years before humans developed a capacity to reason, the emotional centers of the brain were hard at work. Stephen Asma and Rami Gabriel help us understand the evolution of the mind by exploring this more primal capability that we share with other animals: the power to feel, which is the root of so much that makes us uniquely human.
Trade ReviewWith impressive mastery of the scientific and philosophical literature,
The Emotional Mind is an ambitious work with sweeping scope and multidisciplinary character. Asma and Gabriel have written an impressively thorough volume, pulling together work in a variety of disciplines to present a detailed picture of the fundamental role of affective systems and processes in perception, cognition, decision-making, and social behavior. -- David Livingstone Smith, author of
Less than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate OthersThe power of the emotions in our lives is obvious, yet many people prefer to stress the intellectual side of our species. When philosophers turn to the emotions, as in this fascinating book, something magical happens. We get a far more realistic view of human affairs by grounding our psychology in age-old impulses and strivings. -- Frans de Waal, author of
Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about OurselvesIn
The Emotional Mind, Asma and Gabriel have produced a scholarly work that adds significantly to the current literature. It uses cognitive science to show that affect is the neglected partner when it comes to imagining the construction of the modern human mind. This is a much-needed contribution. -- Antonio Damasio, author of
The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of CulturesAn admirable accomplishment, bringing together evolutionary and ecological psychology; philosophy of mind and of psychology; and evolution of culture. This book has been called for since affective neuroscience came on the scene, and the foundational claim that emotions are shaped by and shape both internal cognition and the external world will be used to rethink human evolutionary adaptations of all kinds. -- Heidi M. Ravven, author of
The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, the New Brain Science, and the Myth of Free WillAn ambitious study of the role of emotion in human cognitive and cultural development…Will likely play a significant role in reshaping scientific and philosophical discussions with respect to mind, emotion, and culture. * Choice *
A fresh and compelling take on the affective roots of human rationality, cognition, and judgment-making processes. -- Paul Rezkalla * Quarterly Review of Biology *
