The idea that humans are by nature social and political animals can be traced back to Aristotle. More recently, it has also generated great interest and controversy in related disciplines such as anthropology, biology, psychology, neuroscience and even economics. What is it about humans that enabled them to construct a social reality of unrivalled complexity? Is there something distinctive about the human mind that explains how social lives are organised around conventions, norms, and institutions?

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the Social Mind is an outstanding reference source to the key topics and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. An international team of contributors present perspectives from diverse areas of research in philosophy, drawing on comparative and developmental psychology, evolutionary anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioural economics. The thirty-two original chapters are divided into five parts:

• The evolution of the social mind: including the social intelligence hypothesis, co- evolution of culture and cognition, ethnic cognition, and cooperation;
• Developmental and comparative perspectives: including primate and infant understanding of mind, shared intentionality, and moral cognition;
• Mechanisms of the moral mind: including norm compliance, social emotion, and implicit attitudes;
• Naturalistic approaches to shared and collective intentionality: including joint action, team reasoning and group thinking, and social kinds;
• Social forms of selfhood and mindedness: including moral identity, empathy and shared emotion, normativity and intentionality.

Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind and psychology, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the Social Mind is also suitable for those in related disciplines such as social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, economics and sociology.

About the Author
Julian Kiverstein is Assistant Professor of Neurophilosophy at the University of Amsterdam, and Research Fellow at the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He works in philosophy of cognitive science and neuroscience, and is currently completing a book on embodied and enactive cognition.

Reviews

'This is a fascinating and important collection. It brings together leading thinkers in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology to explain and synthesize work on the crucial insight that the human mind is inherently social. It serves both as a comprehensive introduction and overview of the field, as well as an up-to-date presentation of cutting-edge research. It will be invaluable to students and professionals alike.' - Brian Epstein, Tufts University, USA

'An unparalleled collection, providing both breadth and depth in the exploration of the exciting and emerging field of social cognition. The Handbook serves as an overview of the current intellectual landscape, but also presents new insights that will become the cornerstone for future development of the field. It will be the standard-bearer for issues in social cognition for years to come.' - Ellen Fridland, King's College, London, UK

'This is an exceptionally rich and wide-ranging volume that is sure to be an essential resource for anyone working in the philosophy and science of sociality. The breadth of coverage is terrific, and the contributors all make good on the promise that the social mind in its various dimensions is best studied through an interdisciplinary approach, bringing philosophy into into conversation with psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, economics, and evolutionary biology. This is empirically-informed philosophy - and philosophically-informed science - at its best.' - John Schwenkler, Florida State University, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9780367370534
Author Julian Kiverstein
Format Paperback
Page Count 592
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g