I read a book once with the title "Cultural Psychology: The Once
and Future Discipline" (or something like that). The New York Times
article does not remind me of that book.
Here's just a couple clippings:
"'Children are altruistic by nature,' he writes, and though they
are also naturally selfish, all parents need do is try to tip the
balance toward social behavior.
"The shared intentionality lies at the basis of human society, Dr.
Tomasello argues. From it flow ideas of norms, of punishing those
who violate the norms and of shame and guilt for punishing oneself.
Shared intentionality evolved very early in the human lineage, he
believes, and its probable purpose was for cooperation in gathering
food. Anthropologists report that when men cooperate in hunting,
they can take down large game, which single hunters generally
cannot do. Chimpanzees gather to hunt colobus monkeys, but Dr.
Tomasello argues this is far less of a cooperative endeavor because
the participants act on an ad hoc basis and do not really share
their catch."
and
"'We're preprogrammed to reach out,' Dr. de Waal writes. 'Empathy
is an automated response over which we have limited control.' The
only people emotionally immune to another's situation, he notes,
are psychopaths.
Indeed, it is in our biological nature, not our political
institutions, that we should put our trust, in his view. Our
empathy is innate and cannot be changed or long suppressed. 'In
fact,' Dr. de Waal writes, 'I'd argue that biology constitutes our
greatest hope. One can only shudder at the thought that the
humaneness of our societies would depend on the whims of politics,
culture or religion.'"
On Sat, 5 Dec 2009, David Preiss wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01human.html
David Preiss
ddpreiss@me.com
Info Académica: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
Info Literaria: http://web.me.com/ddpreiss/Site_2/
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Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716
twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________
"those who fail to reread
are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
-- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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