Review by Choice Review
In this masterful work, Carey integrates the works of philosophers, psychologists, linguists, and computer scientists to explore the origins and ontogenesis of concepts such as object, intentional agent, cause, integer, rational number, matter, weight, and density. In doing so, she provides a detailed and convincing explanation of how individuals think, and how they come to think in qualitatively distinct ways. Carey contends that the key to understanding cognitive development lies in recognizing the conceptual discontinuities that occur when new representational systems emerge that have more expressive power than, and are incommensurate with, previous representational systems. Numerous examples of discontinuities in ontogeny of children's thinking serve as illustrations, providing detailed accounts of the transitions between one conceptual system and another. In demonstrating how Quinlan bootstrapping can be conceptualized as a major mechanism in the construction of new representational resources over the course of cognitive development, the author describes not only a probable process underlying cognitive development but also a potential means to understand how and why children may experience difficulty in acquiring some advanced conceptual states that are critical to Western culture (e.g., rational numbers). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. R. B. Stewart Jr. Oakland University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
