How Things Shape the Mind: A Theory of Material Engagement. LAMBROS MALAFOURIS. 2013. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. xv + 304 pp. $40.00 (cloth), ISBN-978-0-262-01919-4.

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-372
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Lycett
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Lambros Malafouris ◽  
Maria Danae Koukouti

Merging notions of materiality and intercorporeality is becoming increasingly important in archaeology and anthropology, as material culture has brought the materiality of bodies and the materiality of things back to the center of attention. Material Engagement Theory (MET) offers a new approach to the study of the nature of interactions and relational transactions of people and things as well as understanding their role in shaping the mind. Using the example of pottery making, this paper explores how the material world now becomes an inseparable component of the way we think; mind and matter are one and must be studied as such. This is a new emphasis on the priority of material engagement as a prereflexive, preverbal capacity for basic thought through, with, and about things which emerges from our bodily engagement with the world. It resonates, extends, and complements the concept of “intercorporeality” (intercorporéité) as advanced by French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter DeScioli

AbstractThe target article by Boyer & Petersen (B&P) contributes a vital message: that people have folk economic theories that shape their thoughts and behavior in the marketplace. This message is all the more important because, in the history of economic thought, Homo economicus was increasingly stripped of mental capacities. Intuitive theories can help restore the mind of Homo economicus.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette Littlemore
Keyword(s):  

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