How important are systems of naming and classifying things to creating our sense of what is real?

[Advertising my academic blog again.]

Last week I wrapped up a section on the mind for my blog about human nature and its connection to evolutionary and social narratives. The new section is going to tie that together with what I wrote about culture. Here is a summary about what's been covered so far, in case you might be interested:

A quick review: We've looked at how how evolution reveals patterns of organization leading to the replication of information in organisms and how these same patterns reveal the capacity for creativity at different levels of organic complexity. In other words, two essential elements for narratives that exist from single celled organisms to sophisticated multicellular forms. We've looked how perception has a sensory input from the biochemical and anatomical side as well as cultural input from the mental and social side, and how the patterns for replicating information and a capacity for creativity at the social level gives rise to narratives about the path and purpose to life. We were most recently looking at some of the building blocks of the mental and social aspects of perception and cognition.

To see where things go from there or how it began, you can start with the latest entry:

 Weaving the World Through Names and Stories

That's it for now.

Be well.