Jeremy Lent's The Instinct to Emulate continues this tradition of comprehensive, interdisciplinary historical narratives, written in non-technical language, clearly readable, entertaining, yet sophisticated and intellectually fascinating. In this book, the author offers a new perspective, which he calls "cognitive history." Instead of the conventional approach that assumes that the direction of history is ultimately determined by material causes—geography, economics, technology, and the like—he argues that, tracing the basic human desire to imbue our surroundings with meaning, "different cultures construct basic metaphors for making sense of their worlds, and these metaphors shape the values ​​that ultimately guide people's actions." Jeremy Lent applies this insight to history. Recognizing the human mind's capacity to construct its own reality, he argues that "the cognitive frameworks through which different cultures perceive reality have profoundly influenced their historical direction." Engaging the reader in an "archaeology of the mind," he demonstrates how, at different periods of history, dominant cognitive frameworks can be defined in terms of certain essential patterns of meaning: "everything is connected," "the hierarchy of gods," "the division of the universe, the division of man," "the harmonious web of life," "nature as machine," and so on. From this cognitive perspective, he proposes new answers to some of the oldest questions in human history: Is our true nature selfish and competitive, or compassionate and community-minded? How did the rise of agriculture set the stage for our current environmental crisis? Why did the scientific revolution occur in Europe and not in Chinese or Islamic civilization? What are the root causes of our modern global culture of rampant consumerism, and is there a way we can change that culture? In this time of global crisis, which sorely needs guidance through new, life-affirming metaphors, answers to these questions are more important than ever.
Fritjof Capra,
Physicist,
Author of The Systems View of Life