<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Important New Ideas for Social Scientists
Review: Cognitive Dimensions of Social Science is skillfully written and deeply relevant to a wide range of social scientific endeavors. In it, Mark Turner traces the origin of human choices to conceptual blending - a subconscious cognitive process that affects how people make sense of complex environments. His work demonstrates the substantial benefits that emerge from integrating cognitive science principles into social scientific practice. Read this book and witness the seeds of a powerful new paradigm being sown.
Rating: 
Summary: Important indeed, but rather fuzzy
Review: Turners message, that social science would benefit from a closer integration with cognitive science, is an important one, and is easy to agree with. On the other hand, it is not a particularly original point to make. You will find it more clearly stated and better argued in E. O. Wilson "Consilience" or S. Pinker "The Blank Slate".I find this book rather fuzzy when it comes down to the details. What exactly is the state of contemporary cognitive science? What theories of social science would we have to discard when we take this research into account? What would this integration mean for modelling and testing? Turner is quite neubolus on questions like these, and offers surprisingly few references to neurobiological studies. He does not care to present too much evidence in support for his theories. I expected more rigour from this book, honestly.
<< 1 >>
| 
