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Folk Physics for Apes: The Chimpanzee's Theory of How the World Works (Psychology)
 
 
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Folk Physics for Apes: The Chimpanzee's Theory of How the World Works (Psychology) (Hardcover)

by Daniel J. Povinelli (Author) "This book is the result of a five-year project designed to explore how chimpanzees conceive of the physics that underlies their use and construction of..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 408 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press (7 Sep 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0198572204
  • ISBN-13: 978-0198572206
  • Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.5 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,223,099 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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The results presented by Daniel Povinelli and his collegues appear quite shocking. Nature Povinelli's results challenge earlier data and seem surprising to anyone familiar with the tool traditions of chimpanzees in the wild Science


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"Povinelli's results challenge earlier data and seem surprising to anyone familiar with the tool traditions of chimpanzees in the wild"
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This book is the result of a five-year project designed to explore how chimpanzees conceive of the physics that underlies their use and construction of simple tools. Read the first page
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Twixt Richard Dawkins and Jared Diamond!, 2 May 2006
This review is from: Folk Physics for Apes: The Chimpanzee's theory of how the world works (Paperback)
I thoroughly enjoyed 'Folk Physics for Apes', the research behind it being well-reasoned and compelling. Although I found it to be well written and readable I suspect that it demands an intelligence and understanding of cognitive science that is not generally found in the average undergraduate today; most are still taught specific concepts rather than being shown how to learn about and understand any concept by example and repeated practise; method!

This comes through in the book itself and it should be treated as a work in progress; the methods of his research are still somewhat unrefined and lack informed peer-review though this will no doubt be undertaken by those interested in Povinelli's work and who understand it enough to take it further

The central conclusion of this particular piece of work is that the chimpanzee mind differs from ours in that it myopically focuses on perceptible associations; humans appealing to unobservable phenomenon to help explain the observable events in the world, and chimpanzees not.

If you enjoy reading Richard Dawkins's Gene books, "The Extended Phenotype:
The Long Reach of the Gene" and 'The Selfish Gene", Darwin or Jared
Diamond's "The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human
Animal", Daniel Dennett "Consciousness Explained" or Steven Pinker, you will genuinely enjoy "Folk Physics for Apes" - Highly recommended!
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting theories, not bedtime reading!, 10 Mar 2006
By ICG (UK) - See all my reviews
I was recommended this book by one of my lecturers when I was preparing an essay on the development of human cognition. The book deals with apes and their problem solving abilities in a number of specific tasks, from this Povinelli tries to gain insight into the cognitive abilities in general.
The book is an extremely useful reference on such points, at times I feel that we are required to take a few leaps of faith when following the author's reasoning and as with all theories, the evidence is incomplete.
Also the book is written as a reference tool, it is not suitable for light reading, only academic research.
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