The Human Place in Nature: Evolution, Context and Choice

by John Schooneveldt

Overview

This book explores a new approach to understanding the evolution of mind and consciousness by examining the perceptual abilities of animals and the way they experience their world. It offers a science-based bottom-up approach to our own conscious worldview by seeing it through the eyes of others. Emphasis is on the role of context in evolution and the way animals internalize and engage with the contextual properties of their world that are meaningful for them. The core argument is that a context, which is subjective and comprised of the perceptual capacities, offers new insights into the evolution of mind. Rather than seeing biological evolution in terms of the emergence of mindless forms and cultural evolution as the emergence of disembodied minds, the book seeks to integrate these two perspectives through the rigorous mapping of contexts.

Key Features

• Reveals an understanding of animal minds
• Formulates a hypothesis for the evolution of consciousness
• Includes a discussion of the origin of technological innovation
• Provides a rationale for the ecology of mind
• Proposes a theory of the evolution of language
• Outlines the science of experience and how it influences choice
• Explains the role of context and choice with respect especially to human ecology

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040337424
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	04/02/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	214
File size:	592 KB

About the Author

John Schooneveldt is a human ecologist with an academic background in psychology (BA 1972), linguistics (MA 1989) and applied ecology (PhD 2000). He worked as a senior government advisor for different governments, a green enterprise development consultant and farmer before returning to academia where he has been a visiting fellow and honorary lecturer at the Australian National University since 2010.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: rationale and justification. 2. What is Context?. 3. Privileging Properties. 4. Context Mapping. 5. The Evolutionary Thinking Frame. 6. The Evolution of Technology. 7. The Evolution Belief. 8. Interpretation and Sense-Making. 9. The ecology of economics. 10. Summary and its Implications for Ethics.