Culture and Cultural Entities: Toward a New Unity of Science

Description

Culture and Cultural Entities provides an original philosophical analysis of the nature and explanation of cultural phenomena, with special attention to ontology and methodology. It addresses in depth such topics as: the relation between physical and biological nature and cultural phenomena; the analysis of intentionality; the nature and explanation of action; causality; causal explanation and the unity of science; theories of language; historicity; animal and human intelligence; psychological and social phenomena; technology and evolution. Its approach features a form of non-reductive materialism, examines a wide range of views, and is highly readable, making it suitable for professionals, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and an informed general audience. A new chapter was added to give a sense of pertinent trends since the appearance of the first edition, particularly with respect to the history of philosophy, pragmatism, the unity of science, and evolution. The unity, scope, and simplicity of the theory are well-regarded. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Nature, Culture, and Persons....Pages 1-15 The Concept of Consciousness....Pages 17-33 Animal and Human Minds....Pages 35-51 Action and Causality....Pages 53-67 Puzzles About the Causal Explanation of Human Actions....Pages 69-83 Cognitivism and the Problem of Explaining Human Intelligence....Pages 85-110 Wittgenstein and Natural Languages....Pages 111-134 Afterwords (2009)....Pages 135-148 Back Matter....Pages 149-155