Human development, language, and the future of mankind : the madness of culture

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. Human Development, Language and the Future of Mankind offers a provocative and original analysis of the global threats to our survival. It identifies long-standing missteps in individual and cultural development that have led humanity into a widespread 'pathology of normality'. This madness is almost impossible to recognize because it has become the norm and its symptoms may even be admired, crippling humankind's efforts to counter the global dangers that we ourselves have created. Drawing on and integrating unorthodox thought from a broad range of disciplines including clinical psychology, linguistics, philosophy, natural science and psychoanalysis, this examination aims to alter the way in which our current global challenges are perceived, opening up new, previously inaccessible insights, and offering original and promising remedial approaches Front Matter....Pages i-viii Understanding Our Global Dangers....Pages 1-15 What Is Language and Why Does It Matter?....Pages 16-30 Infancy and First Language Acquisition....Pages 31-55 Literacy and Primary Orality....Pages 56-71 Ontogenesis and Pathology....Pages 72-89 Phylogenesis and Madness....Pages 90-120 Visions of Sanity....Pages 121-134 Toward Restorative Change....Pages 135-154 Back Matter....Pages 155-177 Drawing on and integrating unorthodox thought from a broad range of disciplines including clinical psychology, linguistics, philosophy, natural science and psychoanalysis, this book offers a provocative, original analysis of the global threats to our survival, and proposes a remedy.