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Natural, un-natural and detached mimicry
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Pickering, John (2019) Natural, un-natural and detached mimicry. Biosemiotics, 12 . pp. 115-130. doi:10.1007/s12304-018-9335-x ISSN 1875-1342.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12304-018-9335-x
Abstract
Natural mimicry is ubiquitous. Plants mimic animals, animals mimic plants, animals mimic each other and animals may even mimic counterfactual states that deceive or distract other animals. Almost all natural mimicry is based on iconicity which hence anchors it in real world resemblances. The vast majority of natural mimicry is done unconsciously but when humans mimic, they know what they are doing. As Merlin Donald suggest, mimicry may in fact have played a crucial role in the emergence of the human condition, allowing new forms of cognition to emerge. Here it is suggested that the role played by mimicry may have involved the evolution of a capacity for metaphorical perception, where an object may not only be seen ‘as is’ but also ‘as if’ it was a functional mimic of something else. This new form of mimicry made possible new forms of communication, co-operation and creative engagement with the environment. Once these developed to the point where they produced symbolic systems and other cultural tools, the nature of human mimicry expanded radically. No longer anchored in resemblance, it became detached and qualitatively distinct from natural forms. The consequences of this detachment are now becoming clear.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Imitation, Metaphor -- Psychological aspects, Resemblance (Philosophy), Cognition | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Biosemiotics | ||||||||
Publisher: | Springer | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1875-1342 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 18 April 2019 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 12 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 115-130 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1007/s12304-018-9335-x | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 12 November 2018 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 12 November 2018 |
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