Michelangelo's finger
Subtitle: an exploration of everyday transcendence
By: Raymond Tallis
Publisher: Atlantic
Published: 2010
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 166
ISBN-13: 9781848871199
Subjects: Pointing (Gesture); Nonverbal communication; Communication and culture; Human evolution; Philosophy; Fingers; Gestik; Nichtverbale Kommunikation; Philosophie
Description: "The ability of the human index finger to point is truly unique in the animal world. In Michaelangelo's Finger Raymond Tallis shows just how central this seemingly insignificant difference has been in determining the amazing evolutionary pathway of the human being. In this startlingly original and persuasive book, Raymond Tallis shows that it is easy to underestimate the influence of small things in determining what manner of creatures humans are. He reveals that over time the repeated and multiple effects of the seemingly insignificant can make an enormous difference and argues that the independent movement of the human index finger is one such easily overlooked factor. Indeed, not for nothing is the index finger called 'the forefinger'. It is the one we most naturally deploy when we want to winkle things out of small spaces, but it plays a far more significant role in an action unique to us among primates: pointing. In Michelangelo's Finger, Raymond Tallis argues that it is through pointing that the index finger made a significant contribution to hominid development and to the creation of a human world separate to the rest of the natural world. Observing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the hugely familiar and awkward encounter between Michelangelo's God and Man through their index fingers, Tallis identifies an intuitive indication of the central role of the index finger in making us unique. Just as the reaching index fingers of God and Man are here made central to the creation of our kind, so Tallis believes that the simple act of pointing is central to our extraordinary evolution."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. How to point: a primer for Martians; title: 2. What it takes to be a pointer; title: 3. Do animals get the point; title: 4. People who don't point; title: 5. Pinning language to the world; title: 6. Pointing and power; title: 7. Assisted pointing and pointing by proxy; title: 8. The transcendent animal: pointing and the beyond.