Cultural groups as survival vehicles and the concept of symbiotic cognition

Bibliographic Data

ID20253114
AuthorsMarc Slors (0000-0002-4459-2859, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume12
Issue1
Publication date2025-12-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCogent Arts and Humanities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2331-1983 • E-ISSN: 2331-1983
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23311983.2025.2513139
OpenAlexW4411160326
LanguageEN
References cited57

The idea that group-level processes and organizational structures in human societies contribute to the cognitive processes of individual human beings is defended in various ways. This does not mean that individual cognitive processes are widely thought to be determined, in part, by genuine top-down influence of group-level processes. On the contrary, such top-down influence is generally associated with metaphysical oddness or worse. In this paper I claim that top-down influence is part of human cognition, and that there is no metaphysical oddness involved when we acknowledge (i) that cognition is intimately tied-up with the survival of organisms, (ii) that cultural groups serve as survival vehicles for human beings, and when (iii) we approach cognition and survival from an evolutionary angle. I use a discussion of Tomasello’s shared intentionality hypothesis to argue that human cognition consists of two superimposed ‘layers’ that can be compared with the levels of explanation required to account for systems of mutualistic symbiosis in biology

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Neuroscience · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access