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G. E. R. Lloyd considers how we can resolve the tension that exists between an appreciation of the cognitive capacities that all humans share, and a recognition of the great variety in their manifestations in different individuals and groups--while avoiding the imposition of prior Western assumptions and concepts.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1: Where does the problem come from?
- 2: Modes of discourse and the pragmatics of communication
- 3: Magic: efficacy and felicity
- 4: The argument from language
- 5: The argument from sociability
- 6: Turning the tables: Obstacles to mutual intelligibility
- 7: The evolutionary issues
- 8: Test case 1: Mathematics
- 9: Test case 2: Religion
- 10: Test case 3: Law
- 11: Test case 4: Aesthetics: Art and music
- 12: Conclusion
About the author
G. E. R. Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Science at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of twenty-eight books, including Being, Humanity, and Understanding: Studies in Ancient and Modern Societies (Oxford 2012) and The Ideals of Inquiry: An Ancient History (Oxford 2014). He became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1983 and received the Sarton medal in 1987. Lloyd was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Kings in 1991, to Honorary Foreign Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995, to an Honorary Fellowship at Darwin in 2000, and to an Honorary DLitt by Oxford University (2010) and St Andrews University (2016). He was knighted for 'services to the history of thought' in 1997, and received the Kenyon Medal for Classical scholarship from the British Academy in 2007 and the Dan David prize in 2013.
Summary
G. E. R. Lloyd considers how we can resolve the tension that exists between an appreciation of the cognitive capacities that all humans share, and a recognition of the great variety in their manifestations in different individuals and groups--while avoiding the imposition of prior Western assumptions and concepts.
Additional text
Lloyd presents a lucid, insightful examination of human intelligence and cross-cultural understanding... Recommended. All readers.
