Language Evolution, Symbolic Cognition, Language Acquisition, Brain Development, Origin of the Human Mind | Terrence Deacon | 20
Mind & Matter
00:00
The concept of niche construction and its analogy to language and culture
The concept of niche construction in evolutionary biology explains that organisms not only respond to their world but also change it, thereby affecting the way they have to respond to it. This concept is exemplified by beavers creating an aquatic niche through their behaviors and subsequently adapting to it. The speaker draws an analogy, likening language and culture to the beaver dam, suggesting that humans, as symbolic primates, have adapted to the symbolic world created by language and culture.
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