Volume 44, Number 15 · October 9, 1997
Thinking About Thinking
By Howard Gardner
The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science
by Steven Mithen
Thames and Hudson, 288 pp., $27.50
Before Darwin, many scholars wrote about the origins of man and the beginnings of mental life. Such writings, however, were frankly speculative: there were few agreed-upon facts, nor was there a comprehensive theoretical frame within which to situate facts and suppositions. Darwin's epoch-making writings changed forever the status of human beings' reflections about themselves and their minds. Darwin put forth the most plausible general account of the evolutionary origins of contemporary forms of life—an account long accepted as correct in its basic outlines. In addition, he stimulated students of biology and human behavior to collect and interpret data relevant to the actual, as opposed to the supposed, 'prehistory' of mind and man.
Review, 5105 words
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