Friday's Footprint: How Society Shapes the Human Mind

Description

This book is only a collection of loosely coupled facts. Dr. Brothers doesn't show a coherent theme in his book. Although he seems to be saying that the human brain research should be pursued in social context, he doesn't give me strong evidence -- only some incomplete arguments.

He is swaying between materialism and social constructionism. For example, when talking about "mind theory," in chapter 1 he supports the materialism but in Ch 7 he supports social constructionism. He says the research that combines the two perspectives is a new paradigm but then he just stops right here. Nothing is further explained when I am looking forward to it.

Ch8, the chapter of emotion, is especially strange. He keeps saying that the current emotion research fails but gives no evidence. His logic is that emotion is a socially constructed category so emotion should not exists in "scientific researches." If this logic is true then why he supports the research of "mind theory," which, in his view, is also a socially constructed category?

This book is confusing and incomplete. Besides, his seemingly main theme, that human mind is both a social product and creator of social behavior, is not a new perspective, either (e.g. Maturana's structural coupling theory). I don't think this book is suitable for picky readers.