Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Book in excellent unread/unused condition. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> This book is a hymn to the hand. In Prehension Colin McGinn links questions from science to philosophi- cal concerns to consider something that we take for granted: the importance of the hand in everything we do. Drawing on evolutionary biology anatomy ar- chaeology linguistics psychology and philosophy among other disciplines McGinn examines the role of the hand in shaping human evolution. He finds that the development of our capacity to grasp to grip to take hold (also known as prehension) is crucial in the emergence of Homo sapiens. The human species possesses language ratio- nal thought culture and a specific affective capacity; but there was a time when our ancestors had none of these. How did we become what we so distinctively are given our early origins? McGinn following Darwin and others calls the hand the source of our biologi- cal success. When our remote ancestors descended from the trees they adopted a bipedal gait that left the hands free for other work; they began to make tools which led to social cooperation and increased brain capacity. But McGinn goes further than others in arguing for the importance of the hand; he speculates that the hand played a major role in the development of language and presents a theory of primitive refer- ence as an outgrowth of prehension. McGinn sings the praises of the hand and evolu- tion in a philosophical key. He mixes biology anthro- pology analytic philosophy existential philosophy. sheer speculation and utter amazement to celebrate humans’ achievement of humanity. (LL)