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Thinking tools: Acquired skills, cultural niche construction, and thinking with things

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2012

Ben Jeffares
Ben Jeffares
Affiliation:
Philosophy Program, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. [email protected]
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Abstract

The investigative strategy that Vaesen uses presumes that cognitive skills are to some extent hardwired; developmentally plastic traits would not provide the relevant comparative information. But recent views of cognition that stress external resources, and evolutionary accounts such as cultural niche construction, urge us to think carefully about the role of technology in shaping cognition.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , August 2012 , pp. 228 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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