HANDS UP!

"Any theory of human intelligence which ignores the interdependence of hand and brain function, the historic origins of that relationship, or the impact of that history on developmental dynamics in modern humans, is grossly misleading and sterile." (Frank R. Wilson, neurologist)

Along the history the prevailing vision has separated the development of human thought and intelligence from bodily actions, work and its associated techniques. Their links were forgotten or ignored for a long time and endure in the 21st century, amid digital age (forgive the paradox). Philosophy in particular has left aside the role of hands, the doing and work in general, as if one would think only with the brain, in a contemplative attitude.

This book synthesizes and seeks to share part of a longstanding research on the relationship between manual and intellectual work in the origins of Western culture and the many prejudices installed over the centuries, many of which still survive, like that of the computational analogy that assimilates hardware to the body and software to the brain, mind or intelligence.

A multidisciplinary approach proposes a very different way of understanding the interaction between hands and brains, manual and intellectual activities. Noticing this can profoundly change our view. The path to be traveled, at times arduous and winding, leads to unexpected and surprising landscapes.

Dettagli