num_pages: 470
description: The term "folkbiology" refers to people's everyday understanding of the biologicalworld -- how they perceive, categorize, and reason about living kinds. The study of folkbiology notonly sheds light on human nature, it may ultimately help us make the transition to a global economywithout irreparably damaging the environment or destroying local cultures. Thisbook takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together the work of researchers in anthropology,cognitive and developmental psychology, biology, and philosophy of science. The issues Are folk taxonomies a first-order approximation to classical scientific taxonomies, or arethey driven more directly by utilitarian concerns? How are these category schemes linked toreasoning about natural kinds? Is there any nontrivial sense in which folk-taxonomic structures areuniversal? What impact does science have on folk taxonomy? Together, the chapters present thecurrent foundations of folkbiology and indicate new directions inresearch. Scott Atran, Terry Kit-fong Au, Brent Berlin, K. DavidBishop, John D. Coley, Jared Diamond, John Dupré, Roy Ellen, Susan A. Gelman, Michael T. Ghiselin,Grant Gutheil, Giyoo Hatano, Lawrence A. Hirschfeld, David L. Hull, Eugene Hunn, Kayoko Inagaki,Frank C. Keil, Daniel T. Levin, Elizabeth Lynch, Douglas L. Medin, Julia Beth Proffitt, Bethany A.Richman, Laura F. Romo, Sandra R. Waxman.
language: English
title: Folkbiology
titlecomplete: Folkbiology (Bradford Books)
genres: Science, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 13
publisher: Bradford Books