Projektbeschreibung
Untersuchung des Aufkommens der Fähigkeit des Menschen zu zählen
Viele Tiere – so auch Menschen – können spontan bis zu einem gewissen Grad Mengen unterscheiden. Doch nur die Menschen haben die kognitiven Mittel entwickelt, genaue Mengen zu erfassen und auszudrücken (z. B. durch Wörter, Körperteile oder Schrift). Das vom Europäischen Forschungsrat finanzierte Projekt QUANTA will untersuchen, wann, warum und wie Menschen diese Mittel entwickelten und warum sie sich je nach Kultur unterscheiden. Das Projekt verfolgt einen interdisziplinären Ansatz, der Daten zu kognitiven Mitteln zur Quantifizierung aus der ganzen Welt integriert. Es setzt ein kognitives Rahmenwerk ein, um Hypothesen über das Aufkommen und die Entwicklung dieser Mittel zu formulieren. Außerdem testet es diese Hypothesen mit leistungsstarken phylogenetischen Rechenmethoden und eröffnet damit ein Fenster in die ferne Vergangenheit.
Ziel
Exact quantification, including the ability to count, depends on both conceptual breakthroughs and cognitive tools such as numeral systems. These tools appear in striking diversity across cultures and manifest in different modalities (verbal, body-based, written, or material). To address the tantalizing questions of when, why, and how they emerged and evolved, we test two previously untestable key hypotheses: that conceptual breakthroughs and tools co-evolved, with different modalities coactively scaffolding the breakthroughs; and that the tools diversified in response to changing cultural requirements. Reconstructing this evolution is the prime goal of QUANTA. Addressing its ambitious objectives requires an unprecedented synergetic combination of (i) archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic insights into numeral systems worldwide, including prehistoric artefacts and symbols, and on contemporary contexts in which quantification occurs and changes; (ii) a cognitive framework for deriving evolutionary hypotheses from system properties; (iii) powerful computational (phylogenetic) methods for testing these hypotheses and thereby reconstructing cultural evolution; and (iv) innovative means to substantially extend the temporal scope of these methods into the past, to include the first attested instances of quantification. To achieve this goal, QUANTA brings together four leading PIs with unique and complementary expertise in exactly these means. By integrating an evolutionary approach with a cognitive perspective on quantification, QUANTA will transform this research field. Its novel strategy will, for the first time ever, yield substantiated insights into the emergence and evolution of numeral systems, thus advancing our understanding of human cognition and its dependence on cultural tools. While the highly interdisciplinary, multi-method approach renders this a high-risk project, QUANTA has the potential to bridge the gap between previously incommensurable fields.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Schlüsselbegriffe
- numbers
- language
- and mind
- evolutionary anthropology
- cultural evolution
- phylogenetics
- numerical cognition & culture
- numeral systems
- diversification of languages
- distributed cognition
- cognitive evolution
- prehistory
- quantification
- counting devices
- experimental archaeology
- history of writing
- notational systems
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-SyG - Synergy grantGastgebende Einrichtung
5020 Bergen
Norwegen