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In this book, Steven Pinker explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. How the Mind Works explains many of the imponderables of everyday life. Why does a face look more attractive with makeup? How do "Magic-Eye" 3-D stereograms work? Why do we feel that a run of heads makes the coin more likely to land tails? Why is the thought of eating worms disgusting? Why do men challenge each other to duels and murder their ex-wives? Why are children bratty? Why do fools fall in love? Why are we soothed by paintings and music? And why do puzzles like the self, free will, and consciousness leave us dizzy? The arguments in the book are as bold as its title. Pinker rehabilitates unfashionable ideas, such as that the mind is a computer and that human nature was shaped by natural selection. And he challenges fashionable ones, such as that passionate emotions are irrational, that parents socialize their children, that creativity springs from the unconscious, that nature is good and modern society corrupting, and that art and religion are expressions of our higher spiritual yearnings.
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Previews available in: Polish English
Subjects
Nonfiction, Philosophy, Neuropsychology, Psychology, Cognitive neuroscience, Natural selection, Human evolution, Evolution, Cognition, Selection (Genetics), Physiology, Kognitive Psychologie, Neurosciences cognitives, Genetic Selection, Bewusstsein, Sélection naturelle, Neuropsychologie, Évolution, Kognitionswissenschaft, Cognitieve processen, Psychologie, Geist, Gehirn, Homme, Kognitiver Prozess, Biological Evolution, Fizjologia, Filozofia umysłu, Ewolucja, Mózg, Poznanie, Umysł, Teoria, Neuropsychologia, ScienceShowing 5 featured editions. View all 13 editions?
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Book Details
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. 589-625) and index.
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Work Description
"Presented with extraordinary lucidity, cogency and panache...Powerful and gripping...To have read [the book] is to have consulted a first draft of the structural plan of the human psyche...a glittering tour de force" - Spectator "Why do memories fade? Why do we lose our tempers? Why do fools fall in love? Pinker's objective in this erudite account is to explore the nature and history of the human mind...He explores computations and evolutions, and then considers how the mind lets us "see, think, feel, interact, and pursue higher callings like art, religion and philosophy"" - Sunday Times
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