The Roots of Scientific Reasoning: Infancy, Modularity, and the Art of Tracking

Carruthers, Peter

The Roots of Scientific Reasoning: Infancy, Modularity, and the Art of Tracking

dc.contributor.author	Carruthers, Peter
dc.date.accessioned	2007-03-23T20:28:52Z
dc.date.available	2007-03-23T20:28:52Z
dc.date.issued	2002
dc.description.abstract	This chapter examines the extent to which there are continuities between the cognitive processes and epistemic practices engaged in by human hunter–gatherers, on the one hand, and those which are distinctive of science, on the other. It deploys anthropological evidence against any form of ‘no-continuity’ view, drawing especially on the cognitive skills involved in the art of tracking. It also argues against the ‘child-as-scientist’ accounts put forward by some developmental psychologists, which imply that scientific thinking is present in early infancy and universal amongst humans who have sufficient time and resources to devote to it. In contrast, a modularist kind of ‘continuity’ account is proposed, according to which the innately channelled architecture of human cognition provides all the materials necessary for basic forms of scientific reasoning in older children and adults, needing only the appropriate sorts of external support, social context, and background beliefs and skills in order for science to begin its advance.	en
dc.format.extent	136982 bytes
dc.format.mimetype	text/html
dc.identifier.citation	Peter Carruthers. The Roots of Scientific Reasoning: Infancy, Modularity, and the Art of Tracking. In P.Carruthers, S.Stich and M.Siegal (eds.), The Cognitive Basis of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1903/4350
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	Cambridge University Press	en
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	College of Arts & Humanities	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	Philosophy	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	Digital Repository at the University of Maryland	en_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)	en_us
dc.rights.license	Copyright Cambridge University Press - http://www.cambridge.org/us/0521812291	en
dc.subject	cognitive processes	en
dc.subject	epistemic practices	en
dc.subject	human hunter–gatherers	en
dc.subject	science	en
dc.subject	‘no-continuity’ view	en
dc.subject	tracking	en
dc.subject	child-as-scientist	en
dc.subject	modularist	en
dc.subject	human cognition	en
dc.title	The Roots of Scientific Reasoning: Infancy, Modularity, and the Art of Tracking	en
dc.type	Book chapter	en