Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Cradle of Thought: Exploring the Origins of Thinking.

2005; Elsevier BV; Volume: 44; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/00004583-200503000-00019

1527-5418

Joshua Maniscalco,

Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology

For centuries, philosophers have been concerned with the uniquely human phenomenon of self-awareness. It was out of this understanding that Descartes famously declared his cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). But exactly how does the ability to think arise? Hobson, who brings to the table a rare combination of training in experimental psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis, sets out to answer this fundamental question in his new book. This multifaceted background serves him well in explaining a phenomenon that one-track modes of analysis have been unable to explain. Much like an appointment with the optometrist, the reader is shown through a variety of lenses just how the process of human thought comes to be. The underlying message is that the development of our ability to think is intimately tied in with our social interactions-a departure from the commonly used explanation that thinking is merely a function of brain development. Hobson argues against the idea that thinking is rooted solely in neural growth, where thought magically occurs after a particular threshold of computational ability is reached.