Folkbiology

Folkbiology
Author: Douglas L. Medin
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 524
Release: 1999-06-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780262631921

The term "folkbiology" refers to people's everyday understanding of the biological world—how they perceive, categorize, and reason about living kinds. The study of folkbiology not only sheds light on human nature, it may ultimately help us make the transition to a global economy without irreparably damaging the environment or destroying local cultures. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together the work of researchers in anthropology, cognitive and developmental psychology, biology, and philosophy of science. The issues covered include: Are folk taxonomies a first-order approximation to classical scientific taxonomies, or are they driven more directly by utilitarian concerns? How are these category schemes linked to reasoning about natural kinds? Is there any nontrivial sense in which folk-taxonomic structures are universal? What impact does science have on folk taxonomy? Together, the chapters present the current foundations of folkbiology and indicate new directions in research. Contributors Scott Atran, Terry Kit-fong Au, Brent Berlin, K. David Bishop, John D. Coley, Jared Diamond, John Dupré, Roy Ellen, Susan A. Gelman, Michael T. Ghiselin, Grant Gutheil, Giyoo Hatano, Lawrence A. Hirschfeld, David L. Hull, Eugene Hunn, Kayoko Inagaki, Frank C. Keil, Daniel T. Levin, Elizabeth Lynch, Douglas L. Medin, Julia Beth Proffitt, Bethany A. Richman, Laura F. Romo, Sandra R. Waxman

Folk Psychology and the Philosophy of Mind

Folk Psychology and the Philosophy of Mind
Author: Scott M. Christensen
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 113499365X

Within the past ten years, the discussion of the nature of folk psychology and its role in explaining behavior and thought has become central to the philosophy of mind. However, no comprehensive account of the contemporary debate or collection of the works that make up this debate has yet been available. Intending to fill this gap, this volume begins with the crucial background for the contemporary debate and proceeds with a broad range of responses to and developments of these works -- from those who argue that "folk theory" is a misnomer to those who regard folk theory as legitimately explanatory and necessary for any adequate account of human behavior. Intended for courses in the philosophy of mind, psychology, and science, as well as anthropology and social psychology, this anthology is also of great value in courses focusing on folk models, eliminative materialism, explanation, psychological theory, and -- in particular -- intentional psychology. It is accessible to both graduate students and upper-division undergraduate students of philosophy and psychology as well as researchers. As an aid to students, a thorough discussion of the field and the articles in the anthology is provided in the introduction; as an aid to researchers, a complete bibliography is also provided.

The Folk Classification of Ceramics

The Folk Classification of Ceramics
Author: Willett Kempton
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 032315882X

The Folk Classification of Ceramics: A Study of Cognitive Prototypes provides a general understanding of folk classification that compares cognitive structures across cultures through anthropological field studies. The topic of this book, the structure and use of folk categories, is relevant to all cognitive sciences and is distinctly anthropological in examining variation among subcultural groups and change through time. The study of variation and change illuminates aspects of category structure that would not be envisioned from experiment or introspection. This text concentrates on the study of folk classification of artifacts on ceramic vessels, focusing on gross social groupings such as "potters or "traditional villages. Some topics discussed include the exploring interview techniques; structure of vessel categories; subcultural variation; and semantic change. This publication is a good reference to students studying folk classification and other disciplines such as cognitive psychology, linguistic semantics, and artificial intelligence. - Focuses on the process of risk assessment, management and communication, the key to the study of air pollution - Provides the latest information on the technological breakthroughs in environmental engineering since last edition - Updated information on computational and diagnostic and operational tools that have emerged in recent years

Folk-taxonomies in Early English

Folk-taxonomies in Early English
Author: Earl R. Anderson
Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press
Total Pages: 598
Release: 2003
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780838639160

A folk-taxonomy is a semantic field that represents the particular way in which a language imposes structure and order upon the myriad impressions of human experience and perception. Thus, for example, the experience of color in modem English is structured around an inventory of twelve "basic" color terms; but languages vary in the number of basic color terms used, from thirteen or fourteen terms to as few as two or three. Anthropological linguists have been interested in the comparative study of folk-taxonomies across contemporary languages, and in their studies they have sometimes proposed evolutionary models for the development and elaboration of these taxonomies. The evolutionary models have implications for historical linguistics, but there have been very few studies of the historical development of a folk-taxonomy within a language or within a language family. Folk-Taxonomies in Early English undertakes this task for English, and to some extent for the Germanic and Indo-European language families. The semantic fields studied are basic color terms, seasons of the year, geometric shapes, the five senses, the folk-psychology of mind and soul, and basic plant and animal life-forms. Anderson's emphasis is on folk-taxonomies in Old and Middle English, and also on the implications of semantic analysis for our reading of early English literary texts.

The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore, 1916-1954

The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore, 1916-1954
Author: Texas Folklore Society
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 1998
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781574410556

A representative anthology of Texas folklore from the first half of the twentieth century, including legends, ghost stories, songs, proverbs, and other writings.

Folk Mammalogy of the Northern Pimans

Folk Mammalogy of the Northern Pimans
Author: Amadeo M. Rea
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2016-12-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816536821

Knowledge held about animals by Pima-speaking Native Americans of Arizona and northwest Mexico is intimately entwined with their way of life—a way that is fading from memory as beavers and wolves vanish also from the Southwest. Ethnobiologist Amadeo Rea has conducted extensive fieldwork among the Northern Pimans and here shares what these people know about mammals and how mammals affect their lives. Rea describes the relationship of the River Pima, Tohono O'odham (Papago), Pima Bajo, and Mountain Pima to the furred creatures of their environment: how they are named and classified, hunted, prepared for consumption, and incorporated into myth. He also identifies associations between mammals and Piman notions of illness by establishing correlations between the geographical distribution of mammals and ideas regarding which animals do or do not cause staying sickness. This information reveals how historical and ecological factors can directly influence the belief systems of a people. At the heart of the book are detailed species accounts that relate Piman knowledge of the bats, rabbits, rodents, carnivores, and hoofed mammals in their world, encompassing creatures ranging from deer mouse to mule deer, cottontail to cougar. Rea has been careful to emphasize folk knowledge in these accounts by letting the Pimans tell their own stories about mammals, as related in transcribed conversations. This wide-reaching study encompasses an area from the Rio Yaqui to the Gila River and the Gulf of California to the Sierra Madre Occidental and incorporates knowledge that goes back three centuries. Folk Mammalogy of the Northern Pimans preserves that knowledge for scholars and Pimans alike and invites all interested readers to see natural history through another people's eyes.

The Debate about Folk Psychology

The Debate about Folk Psychology
Author: Christian Risse
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 15
Release: 2016-11-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3668348332

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 20th century, grade: 1,3, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Institut für Philosophie), course: Seminar: Mental Representations, language: English, abstract: Folk psychology is often simply addressed as a rough-known set of concepts, generalisations and rules of thumb we all standardly use to explain and predict human behaviour. It is also often referred as common sense psychology since the term “folk” seems to be depictive and unscientific as in “folk physics” or “folk biology” which seem to characterize a more simplistic and superfluous version of the “real” sciences. The idea of folk psychology seems to be claiming for scientific grounding to be true. But with that certain problems, such as the very basic question of folk psychology as a real science and theory arise, which shall be inquired in the following sections.