Publication Details

Abstract

The paper gives a comparison of Durkheim´s sociogenetic approach, according to which the specific character of human knowledge consists in its being commonly created, culturally transmitted and transgeneratively communicated, with the biological approach, which considers the culture to be a continuation of biological nature. As an example the author uses the famous case study of Phine Gage, who as a consequence of a brain damage suffered from a serious personality disorder. This and other similar cases are interpreted as an evidence of a specific inborn module of social thinking and decision making. More adequate is, according to the author, to consider this disorder as a disorder of the ability to integrate the rational and emotional regulations. Her argument is, that it is impossible to explain the human thinking and acting as a consequence of biological regulation - otherwise the controlling function of the neocortex looses it evolutionary importance.