No way around cross-cultural and cross-linguistic epistemology

Behav Brain Sci. 2021 Nov 19:44:e160. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X20001831.

Abstract

Phillips and colleagues claim that the capacity to ascribe knowledge is a "basic" capacity, but most studies reporting linguistic data reviewed by Phillips et al. were conducted in English with American participants - one of more than 6,500 languages currently spoken. We highlight the importance of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic research when one is theorizing about fundamental human representational capacities.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Humans
  • Knowledge*
  • Language
  • Linguistics
  • United States