false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174062265m/357312.jpg 357312 2 Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation - its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard large ships. The result is an unusual interdisciplinary approach to cognition in culturally constituted activities outside the laboratory - "in the wild."<br /> <br /> Hutchins examines a set of phenomena that have fallen in the cracks between the established disciplines of psychology and anthropology, bringing to light a new set of relationships between culture and cognition. The standard view is that culture affects the cognition of individuals. Hutchins argues instead that cultural activity systems have cognitive properties of their own that are different from the cognitive properties of the individuals who participate in them. Each action for bringing a large naval vessel into port, for example, is informed by culture: the navigation team can be seen as a cognitive and computational system.<br /> <br /> Introducing Navy life and work on the bridge, Hutchins makes a clear distinction between the cognitive properties of an individual and the cognitive properties of a system. In striking contrast to the usual laboratory tasks of research in cognitive science, he applies the principal metaphor of cognitive science - cognition as computation (adopting David Marr's paradigm) - to the navigation task. After comparing modern Western navigation with the method practiced in Micronesia, Hutchins explores the computational and cognitive properties of systems that are larger than an individual. He then turns to an analysis of learning or change in the organization of cognitive systems at several scales.<br /> <br /> Hutchins's conclusion illustrates the costs of ignoring the cultural nature of cognition, pointing to the ways in which contemporary cognitive science can be transformed by new meanings and interpretations.<br /> <br /> <i>A Bradford Book</i> 347470 1995 Cognition in the Wild (Bradford Books) total:17|5:8|4:7|3:2| 17 74 42 1 5 0 false false Wed Jul 09 10:48:56 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 10:51:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Nov 08 20:55:32 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 21:18:24 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 07:24:58 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 07:24:58 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 19:46:10 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 19:46:10 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 05:47:48 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 05:47:48 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Oct 04 20:43:18 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 20:43:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 25 01:52:02 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 01:52:02 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 15:52:52 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:52:52 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 02 07:20:51 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 07:20:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 19 14:32:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 14:32:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jun 30 01:50:49 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 01:51:11 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 29 06:54:24 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 06:54:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 22 09:39:36 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 09:39:36 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Jun 21 09:14:33 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 09:14:38 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 15 14:10:45 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 14:10:51 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jun 15 10:17:34 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 10:17:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 27 10:30:20 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 09 14:31:18 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Mar 20 10:11:01 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 10:12:16 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Mar 12 14:18:17 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 14:18:17 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Feb 15 14:16:59 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 14:16:59 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=357312