Session 1
                                           Introduction

                                          MARTIN KANOVSKÝ



                                         Culture and Mind

                                           Spring - 2010

                                            Assessment

                                            Assessment

•       40 points: eight short (3-6 pp.) written texts (8 x 5),

•       10 points: oral presentation



•       50 points: final written essay OR

•       50 points: oral exam

                                            Assessment

•       A: 91 – 100

•       B: 81 – 90

•       C: 73 – 80

•       D: 66 – 72

•       E: 60 – 65

•       F: 0 – 59

                                     Organization of a session

                                     Organization of a session

•                 Oral presentation (15 min.)

                                     Organization of a session

•                 Oral presentation (15 min.)

•                 Debate about the presentation (20 min.)

                                     Organization of a session

•                 Oral presentation (15 min.)

•                 Debate about the presentation (20 min.)

•                 Teacher’s lecture (30 min.) + debate

                                     Organization of a session

•                 Oral presentation (15 min.)

•                 Debate about the presentation (20 min.)

•                 Teacher’s lecture (30 min.) + debate

•                 Break (5 min.)

                                     Organization of a session

•                 Oral presentation (15 min.)

•                 Debate about the presentation (20 min.)

•                 Teacher’s lecture (30 min.) + debate

•                 Break (5 min.)

•                 Continuation of the debate (30 min.)

                                             Contents

                                             Contents

(2) Culture and Cognition 1: Ontology (12. 3.)



SPERBER. D.  A naturalistic ontology for mechanistic explanations in the social sciences. In Pierre
Demeulenaere (ed.) Analytical sociology and social mechanisms (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press) – forthcoming



                                             Contents

(3) Culture and Cognition 2: Concepts (26. 3.)



SPERBER, D., Conceptual tools for a natural science of society and culture, Proceedings of the
British Academy 111/2001, s. 297-317.



                                             Contents

(4) Evolution and Culture (23. 4.)



a) HENRICH, J., HENRICH, N.: Culture, evolution and the puzzle of human cooperation. In: Cognitive
Systems Research 7 (2006) 220–245



b) BOYD, R., RICHERSON, P: Gene-Culture Coevolution and the Evolution of Social Institutions, In:
Better than Conscious? Decision Making, the Human Mind, and Implications for Institutions. C. Engel
and W. Singer eds, MIT Press, Cambridge. Pp 305-324, 2008





                                             Contents

(5) Dualism in Mind and Culture 1: Positive View (30. 4.)



BLOOM, P., Descartes’ baby: How child development explains what makes us human. Arrow Books, London
(2004). 1st Chap.



                                             Contents

(6) Dualism in Mind and Culture 1: Negative View (7. 5.)



HODGE, M., Descartes’ Mistake: How Afterlife Beliefs Challenge the Assumption that Humans are
Intuitive Cartesian Substance Dualists, Journal of Cognition and Culture 8, (2008) 387–415.



                                             Contents

(7) Moral reasoning 1: Good and Evil in Detail (14. 5.)



ZIMBARDO, P., A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil: Understanding How Good People
Are Transformed into Perpetrators., Arthur Miller (Ed.). The social psychology of good and evil



                                             Contents

(8) Moral reasoning 2: Morality and Culture (21. 5.)



a) HAIDT, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316, 998-1002.

b) SHWEDER, R. & HAIDT, J., The Future of Moral Psychology: Truth, Intuition, and the Pluralist
Way. Psychological Science 4/6, (1993), s. 360-365