Thinking tools: acquired skills, cultural niche construction, and thinking with things.
The investigative strategy that Vaesen uses presumes that cognitive skills are to some extent hardwired; developmentally plastic traits would not provide the relevant comparative information. But recent views of cognition that stress external resources, and evolutionary accounts such as cultural niche construction, urge us to think carefully about the role of technology in shaping cognition.
Philosophy Program, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. benjeffares@gmail.com
Ben
B
Jeffares
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013672:Technology; D053001:Tool Use Behavior