The Coevolution of Language, Teaching, and Civil Discourse Among Humans: Our Family Business

ISBN-13: 9783030485450 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 360 str.

Donald M. Morrison

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Teaching in Humans and Other Animals.- Chapter 2: Not a Third Chimpanzee.- Chapter 3: Meet Your Ancestors.- Chapter 4: An Evolutionary Explosion.- Chapter 5: The Coevolution of Language, Brains, and Technology.- Chapter 6: Pointing: The Royal Road to Language?.- Chapter 7: Teaching and Learning as Language in Action.- Chapter 8: Civil Discourse: Thinking with Other Humans.- Chapter 9: The Emergence of Civil Discourse.- Chapter 10: Into the Uncertain Future.

O autorze

Donald M. Morrison, a lifelong educator, is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, USA.

Blurb

“The story of how we humans came to be the way we are has been told many times, and new discoveries continue to prompt retellings. Seldom has the story been told with such verve. Donald Morrison explores the diverse evolutionary challenges, and the biocultural responses, that went to make our species. His message is that language, and teaching through language, is the linchpin that has come to hold the interlocking solutions together. He concludes by addressing the existential predicaments now facing us—the climate crisis, global inequality and the crisis of civil discourse—and challenges us to re-think how education and language can help us find a way through." --Chris Sinha, Hunan University, China

"Morrison has contributed a fascinating, readable analysis of the coevolution of language, thought, and culture throughout the development of our species. Other researchers have examined aspects of this coevolution, but none have looked in such depth at the role of teaching in supporting the growth of language and culture. Morrison's new analysis is important not only for the light it casts on co-evolution, but also for the implications it has for our understanding of the roots of education in human nature and society." --Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

This book traces the evolutionary trajectory of language and teaching from the earliest periods of human evolution to the present day. The author argues that teaching is unique to humans and our ancestors, and that the evolution of teaching, language, and culture are the inextricably linked results of gene-culture coevolutionary processes. Drawing on related fields including archaeology, palaeontology, cultural anthropology, evolutionary psychology and linguistics, he makes the case that the need for joint attention and shared goals in complex adaptive strategies is the underlying driver for the evolution of language-like communication. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of these disciplines, as well as lay readers with an interest in human origins. 

Donald M. Morrison is a teacher and educational researcher. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, USA.