Native Ontological Framework Guides Causal Reasoning: Evidence from Wichi People
Causal cognition – how we perceive, represent and reason about causal events – are fundamental to the human mind, but it has rarely been approached in its cultural specificity. Here, we investigate this core concept among Wichi people, an indigenous group living in Chaco Forest. We focus on the Wich...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2023
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| In: |
Journal of cognition and culture
Year: 2023, Volume: 23, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 397-419 |
| Further subjects: | B
Causal reasoning
B wichi B Causality B causal cognition |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Causal cognition – how we perceive, represent and reason about causal events – are fundamental to the human mind, but it has rarely been approached in its cultural specificity. Here, we investigate this core concept among Wichi people, an indigenous group living in Chaco Forest. We focus on the Wichi, because their epistemological orientations and explanatory frameworks about ecosystem differ importantly from those documented among most Western majority-culture populations. We asked participants to reason about causes of events that involve the hunhat lheley (inhabitants of the earth: humans, non-human animals, plants and spiritual beings) and other entities of their ecosystem (e.g., lagoon). We find a native ontological framework that encompasses three interacting organizing principles. This new evidence highlights ways in which native categories guide causal reasoning. Our research challenge long-held assumptions that dichotomies – nature-culture or natural-supernatural – are universal features of the human mind. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5373 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of cognition and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12340169 |