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Evolution and Devolution of Knowledge: A Tale of Two Biologies

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  • Scott Atran

    (IJN - Institut Jean-Nicod - DEC - Département d'Etudes Cognitives - ENS Paris - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CdF (institution) - Collège de France - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Département de Philosophie - ENS Paris - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres)

  • Douglas Medin
  • Norbert Ross

Abstract

Anthropological inquiry suggests that all societies classify animals and plants in similar ways. Paradoxically, in the same cultures that have seen large advances in biological science, citizenry's practical knowledge of nature has dramatically diminished. Here we describe historical, cross-cultural and developmental research on how people ordinarily conceptualize organic nature (folkbiology), concentrating on cognitive consequences associated with knowledge devolution. We show that results on psychological studies of categorization and reasoning from "standard populations" fail to generalize to humanity at large. Usual populations (Euro-American college students) have impoverished experience with nature, which yields misleading results about knowledge acquisition and the ontogenetic relationship between folkbiology and folkpsychology. We also show that groups living in the same habitat can manifest strikingly distinct behaviors, cognitions and social relations relative to it. This has novel implications for environmental decision making and management, including commons problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Atran & Douglas Medin & Norbert Ross, 2004. "Evolution and Devolution of Knowledge: A Tale of Two Biologies," Post-Print ijn_00000484, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:ijn_00000484
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2004.00195.x
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/ijn_00000484
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Baron, Jonathan & Spranca, Mark, 1997. "Protected Values," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 1-16, April.
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