COMMENT:Focuses on mental development, especially as researched by Lev Vygotsky, emphasizing that speech is the tool we use to build our mind. A child who is not allowed to speak aloud when growing will not flourish mentally, because the inner voice of consciousness starts out as self-talk. McCrone's ideas are somewhat similar to Julian Jaynes's view of consciousness; speech must have become a new channel between different parts of the mind. The developed part of the mind is the "higher" half of McCrone's model of the human mind, which he argues does not fall into a rational/irrational or left/right brain dichotomy. Based on his theory, McCrone attacks all sorts of things that fall under the irrational label, including Romanticism, parapsychology and Freudian ideas about the unconscious.
DATE:19990625
KEYWORDS:psi psychology
PUBLISHER:Carroll and Graf
SUBMITNAME:Charlie Ross
TITLE:The Myth Of Irrationality: The Science of the Mind From Plato to Star Trek
