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Behind the Mirror: A Search for a Natural History of Human Knowledge
by
Nobel laureate Lorenz here investigates culture as a living system. From amoebas to humans, he traces the physiological mechanisms that direct behavior and thought. Translated by Ronald Taylor; Index. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.
Paperback, 261 pages
Published
September 11th 1978
by Mariner Books
(first published 1973)
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This is a book about the theoretical framework for why it may be productive to consider society and culture as a living organism, and why that approach in studying it may lead to valuable insights. A point of view which I wholeheartedly agree with.
But the book is very badly written. It is highly obtuse and technical, possibly because these thoughts may have been very radical when they were proposed 40 years ago. Lorenz spends many pages "kicking in open doors", preemptivly countering objections ...more
But the book is very badly written. It is highly obtuse and technical, possibly because these thoughts may have been very radical when they were proposed 40 years ago. Lorenz spends many pages "kicking in open doors", preemptivly countering objections ...more
Life forms evolve from one to another with the increase in complexity. More advance forms of life are more successful in surviving since they create more accurate models of reality. Lorenz implies that human brain and human consciousness is nothing more than a part of this evolution. The next step of complexity is our culture. Lorenz describe a number of principles of brain functioning that are used by evolving systems to increase complexity and expand information-storage capacity.
Embora publicado no mesmo ano que O paradigma perdido, de Edgar Morin, Lorenz enfatiza mais toda a questão do aparato perceptivo das espécies mais simples até o homem para explicar como a cultura é influenciada pela biologia e como fenômenos culturais podem ser estudados de forma análoga a organismos vivos.
Oct 11, 2013
Nat Shirman
marked it as sciences
(in Originalsprache deutsch gelesen)
One of the best scientific books I have ever read.
Why I am an animal. Bit more technical and less accessible than On Aggression.
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Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, developing an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth.
Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, ...more
Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, ...more
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