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Seeking a Rapprochement Between Anthropology and the Cognitive Sciences: A Problem‐Driven Approach
Author(s) -
Whitehouse Harvey,
Cohen Emma
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
topics in cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.191
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1756-8765
pISSN - 1756-8757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01203.x
Subject(s) - epistemology , sociology , scope (computer science) , focus (optics) , cognition , psychology , philosophy , computer science , physics , neuroscience , optics , programming language
Beller, Bender, and Medin question the necessity of including social anthropology within the cognitive sciences. We argue that there is great scope for fruitful rapprochement while agreeing that there are obstacles (even if we might wish to debate some of those specifically identified by Beller and colleagues). We frame the general problem differently, however: not in terms of the problem of reconciling disciplines and research cultures, but rather in terms of the prospects for collaborative deployment of expertise (methodological and theoretical) in problem‐driven research. For the purposes of illustration, our focus in this article is on the evolution of cooperation.