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5Illustration CreditsIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 385-386. 2017.
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6Introduction: A Double EnigmaIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 1-12. 2017.
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103. From Unconscious Inferences to IntuitionsIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 51-67. 2017.
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5FrontmatterIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. 2017.
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128. Could Reason Be a Module?In Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 128-147. 2017.
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6Conclusion: In Praise of Reason after AllIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 328-336. 2017.
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75. Cognitive OpportunismIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 76-89. 2017.
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20ContentsIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. 2017.
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1014. A Reason for EverythingIn Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier (eds.), The Enigma of Reason, Harvard University Press. pp. 251-261. 2017.
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36Conference on evolution and the human sciencesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 23 (4): 699-700. 1991.
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226Relevance: Communication and CognitionBlackwell. 1986/1995.This revised edition includes a new Preface outlining developments in Relevance Theory since 1986, discussing the more serious criticisms of the theory, and ...
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17A Forward Bias in Human Profile‐Oriented PortraitsCognitive Science 44 (6). 2020.The spatial composition of human portraits obeys historically changing cultural norms. We show that it is also affected by cognitive factors that cause greater spontaneous attention to what is in front rather in the back of an agent. Scenes with more space in front of a directed object are both more often produced and judged as more aesthetically pleasant. This leads to the prediction that, in profile‐oriented human portraits, compositions with more space in front of depicted agents (a “forward …Read more
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27¿Porqué razonan los humanos?Cuadernos Filosóficos / Segunda Época 15. 2019.Reasoning is generally seen as a means to improve knowledge and make better decisions. However, much evidence shows that reasoning often leads to epistemic distortions and poor decisions. This suggests that the function of reasoning should be rethought. Our hypothesis is that the function of reasoning is argumentative. It is to devise and evaluate arguments intended to persuade. Reasoning so conceived is adaptive given the exceptional dependence of humans on communication and their vulnerability…Read more
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29Instincts or gadgets? Not the debate we should be havingBehavioral and Brain Sciences 42. 2019.I argue, with examples, that most human cognitive skills are neither instincts nor gadgets but mechanisms shaped both by evolved dispositions and by cultural inputs. This shaping can work either through evolved skills fulfilling their function with the help of cultural skills that they contribute to shape, or through cultural skills recruiting evolved skills and adjusting to them.
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PragmaticsIn Frank Jackson & Michael Smith (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy, Oxford University Press. 2005.
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50The role of attraction in cultural evolutionJournal of Cognition and Culture 7 (1-2): 89-111. 2007.Henrich and Boyd (2002) were the first to propose a formal model of the role of attraction in cultural evolution. They came to the surprising conclusion that, when both attraction and selection are at work, final outcomes are determined by selection alone. This result is based on a deterministic view of cultural attraction, different from the probabilistic view introduced in Sperber (1996). We defend this probabilistic view, show how to model it, and argue that, when both attraction and selectio…Read more
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121Truthfulness and Relevance in Telling The TimeMind and Language 17 (5): 457-466. 2002.Someone asked ‘What time is it?’ when her watch reads 3:08 is likely to answer ‘It is 3:10.’ We argue that a fundamental factor that explains such rounding is a psychological disposition to give an answer that, while not necessarily strictly truthful or accurate, is an optimally relevant one (in the sense of relevance theory) i.e. an answer from which hearers can derive the consequences they care about with minimal effort. A rounded answer is easier to process and may carry the same consequences…Read more
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9IX*—Loose TalkProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86 (1): 153-172. 1986.Dan Sperber, Deirdre Wilson; IX*—Loose Talk, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 86, Issue 1, 1 June 1986, Pages 153–172, https://doi.org/10.1093/ar.
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3Metarepresentations in an evolutionary perspective in SperberIn Dan Sperber (ed.), Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, Oxford University Press. 2000.
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6In defense of massive modularityIn Emmanuel Dupoux (ed.), Language, Brain and Cognitive Development: Essays in Honor of Jacques Mehler, Mit Press. 2001.
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22The evolution of the language faculty: A paradox and its solutionBehavioral and Brain Sciences 13 (4): 756-758. 1990.
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154Defining and explaining culture (comments on Richerson and Boyd, not by genes alone)Biology and Philosophy 23 (2): 283-292. 2008.We argue that there is a continuum of cases without any demarcation between more individual and more cultural information, and that therefore “culture” should be viewed as a property that human mental representations and practices exhibit to a varying degree rather than as a type or a subclass of these representations and practices (or of “information”). We discuss the relative role of preservative and constructive processes in transmission. We suggest a revision of Richerson and Boyd’s classifi…Read more
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196An objection to the memetic approach to cultureIn Robert Aunger (ed.), Darwinizing Culture, . 2001.This chapter determines a major empirical hurdle for any future discipline of memetics. It mainly shows that one can find very similar copies of some cultural item, link these copies through a causal chain of events which faithfully reproduced those items, and nevertheless not have an example of memetic inheritance. In addition, the stability of cultural patterns is proof that fidelity in copying is high despite individual variations. It is also believed that what is offered as an explanation is…Read more
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91Précis of Relevance: Communication and CognitionBehavioral and Brain Sciences 10 (4): 697. 1987.