#422 Michael Tomasello: Interdependence, Shared Intentionality, Culture, and Morality
RECORDED ON DECEMBER 11th 2020.
Dr. Michael Tomasello is an American developmental and comparative psychologist, as well as linguist. He is Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, and professor of psychology at Duke University. Earning many prizes and awards from the end of the 1990s onward, he is considered one of today’s most authoritative developmental and comparative psychologists. He is “one of the few scientists worldwide who is acknowledged as an expert in multiple disciplines”. His “pioneering research on the origins of social cognition has led to revolutionary insights in both developmental psychology and primate cognition.” He’s also the author of several books, including The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition (1999), A Natural History of Human Thinking (2014), A Natural History of Human Morality (2016), and Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny (2019).
In this episode, we talk about developmental and comparative psychology, with a focus on Dr. Tomasello’s latest book, Becoming Human. Topics include: comparative psychology, and how to compare ourselves to other primates; three types of morality (derived from kin selection; derived from interdependence; derived from culture); shared and collective intentionality; the development of institutions; the relationship between sociality and morality; natural and cultural morality; group selection; if human morality is innate; the importance of language; and studying isolated children.
Time Links:
Comparative psychology
Three types of morality
Shared intentionality
Collective intentionality
Cultural institutions
The relationship between sociality and morality
Natural and cultural morality
Group selection
Is human morality innate?
Language
Children in an isolated island
Follow Dr. Tomasello’s work!
Follow Dr. Tomasello’s work:
Duke faculty page: https://bit.ly/3n9zGmB
Tomasello Lab: https://bit.ly/37bz36t
Max Planck page: https://bit.ly/376G0ph
Works on ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/377a9EM
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/3n96Xhy
Becoming Human: https://amzn.to/3mbVYm6