How Things Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement

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Lambros Malafouris (Johnson Research Fellow in Creativity, Cognition, and Material Culture, University of Oxford) Colin Renfrew (Senior Fellow, University of Cambridge)

How Things Shape the Mind

A Theory of Material Engagement

Lambros Malafouris (Johnson Research Fellow in Creativity, Cognition, and Material Culture, University of Oxford), Colin Renfrew (Senior Fellow, University of Cambridge)

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English

MIT Press
12 February 2016

Archaeological methodology & techniques; Drug-induced states; Neurosciences

Series: The MIT Press

"An account of the different ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body, from prehistory to the present.

An increasingly influential school of thought in cognitive science views the mind as embodied, extended, and distributed rather than brain-bound or ""all in the head."" This shift in perspective raises important questions about the relationship between cognition and material culture, posing major challenges for philosophy, cognitive science, archaeology, and anthropology. In How Things Shape the Mind, Lambros Malafouris proposes a cross-disciplinary analytical framework for investigating the ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body. Using a variety of examples and case studies, he considers how those ways might have changed from earliest prehistory to the present. Malafouris's Material Engagement Theory definitively adds materiality-the world of things, artifacts, and material signs-into the cognitive equation. His account not only questions conventional intuitions about the boundaries and location of the human mind but also suggests that we rethink classical archaeological assumptions about human cognitive evolution.

An account of the different ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body, from prehistory to the present.

An increasingly influential school of thought in cognitive science views the mind as embodied, extended, and distributed rather than brain-bound or ""all in the head."" This shift in perspective raises important questions about the relationship between cognition and material culture, posing major challenges for philosophy, cognitive science, archaeology, and anthropology. In How Things Shape the Mind, Lambros Malafouris proposes a cross-disciplinary analytical framework for investigating the ways in which things have become cognitive extensions of the human body. Using a variety of examples and case studies, he considers how those ways might have changed from earliest prehistory to the present. Malafouris's Material Engagement Theory definitively adds materiality-the world of things, artifacts, and material signs-into the cognitive equation. His account not only questions conventional intuitions about the boundaries and location of the human mind but also suggests that we rethink classical archaeological assumptions about human cognitive evolution."

By: Lambros Malafouris (Johnson Research Fellow in Creativity Cognition and Material Culture University of Oxford)
Foreword by: Colin Renfrew (Senior Fellow University of Cambridge)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 422g
ISBN: 9780262528924
ISBN 10: 0262528924
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 12 February 2016
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Lambros Malafouris is Johnson Research Fellow in Creativity, Cognition, and Material Culture at Keble College and the Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford.

Reviews for How Things Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement

How Things Shape the Mind is a rich, thought-provoking and ambitious book.... [T]hat this book is a main contribution to cognitive archaeology and to the wider debate on how material culture and technology, on the one hand, and human thought, on the other, are causally intertwined. Anyone who is seriously interested in either or both of these fields should read this fascinating book. -Ethos