|
In the childhood of every human being, and
at the dawn of human history, there is an amazing -- and
until now unexplained -- leap from simple, genetically programmed
behavior to symbolic thinking, language, and culture. In
The First Idea, Stanley Greenspan and Stuart Shanker
explore this missing link and offer brilliant new insights
into two longstanding questions: how human beings first
created symbols and how these abilities initially evolved
and were subsequently transmitted and transformed across
generations over millions of years.
Greenspan and Shanker have formulated a
startling hypothesis for which they present compelling evidence
-- that the critical step in symbol formation, language,
and thinking is not a "genetic leap" but a learned
capacity. That capacity depended on specific types of nurturing
interactions and other cultural practices that were passed
down and thus learned anew and further developed by each
generation, dating back to prehuman and even nonhuman primate
cultures.
Drawing on fascinating evidence -- not only
from their research and collaborations comparing the language
and intelligence of human infants and apes, but also from
the fossil record, neuroscience, and Greenspan's extensive
work with children with autism -- Greenspan and Shanker
offer a radical new direction for evolutionary theory, developmental
psychology, and philosophy.
Stanley I. Greenspan, MD, is Clinical
Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at George Washington
University Medical School and Chairman of the Interdisciplinary
Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders. The world's
foremost authority on clinical work with infants and young
children, he is founding president of Zero to Three: The
National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Dr.
Greenspan, whose work guides the care of infants and children
with developmental and emotional problems throughout the
world, is the author of thirty-seven influential books translated
into over a dozen languages, including The Growth of
the Mind and Building Healthy Minds.
Stuart G. Shanker, D. Phil. (Oxon), is
Distinguished Research Professor at York University in Toronto
and Co-Chair of the Council of Human Development. One of
the world's leading authorities on the philosophy of Ludwig
Wittgenstein, he has been at the forefront of ape-language
research and child-language studies. Dr. Shanker is the
author of over twenty highly praised books, including Wittgenstein's
Remarks on the Foundations of AI,
and is Co-General Editor of the ten-volume Routledge
History of Philosophy.
|
