The Human Question

Nattrass, Nicoli

The Human Question

dc.contributor.author	Nattrass, Nicoli
dc.date	2012-01
dc.date.accessioned	2014-09-23T01:08:51Z
dc.date.available	2014-09-23T01:08:51Z
dc.date.issued	2014-09-23
dc.description.abstract	Lecture series coordinated by Professor Nicoli Nattrass, School of Economics, University of Cape Town. The question of what it means to be human is an old one, and of central importance to the social sciences. Our powerful brains and complex cultural and economic lives distinguish us from other animals, yet recent developments in neuroscience are placing new emphasis on the mammalian nature of human brains. This poses challenges for how the social sciences view the question of being human. The first lecture of this course will focus on the implications of recent neuroscience for psychology and for how we understand human behaviour. The lectures that follow will explore how the social sciences have engaged with the issue of what it means to be human, covering classical understandings as well as recent evidence from the biological and behavioural sciences. The second lecture will discuss the way in which the human has been conceptualised by neoclassical economics as ‘homo-economicus’ and how recent developments in behavioural economics are shifting our understanding. The third lecture will discuss classical political thinking (primarily Locke and Rousseau) and then turn to empirical research on power, authority, hierarchy and obedience among humans and other primates. The fourth lecture will look at the issue of sociality and antisociality by posing the question of how we understand the criminal. The course will conclude with a panel discussion reflecting on the key challenges that neuroscience poses for social science and vice versa. LECTURE TITLES: 1. The animal mind within us Mark Solms, Dept of Psychology; 2. Homo-economicus? Prof Nicoli Nattrass, School of Economics; 3. Humans, hierarchies and the study of political power, Prof Jeremy Seekings, Depts of Political Studies & Sociology (podcast not available due to technical error); 4. Who is the criminal? Prof Clifford Shearing, Centre of Criminology; *5. Economics, politics, criminology and the brain Panel discussion.	en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitation	2014. <i>The Human Question.</i> http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7649	en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitation	. 2014. <i>The Human Question.</i> http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7649	en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation	Nattrass, N. 2014-09-23. The Human Question. Recorded lecture. University of Cape Town.	en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris	TY - Other AU - Nattrass, Nicoli AB - Lecture series coordinated by Professor Nicoli Nattrass, School of Economics, University of Cape Town. The question of what it means to be human is an old one, and of central importance to the social sciences. Our powerful brains and complex cultural and economic lives distinguish us from other animals, yet recent developments in neuroscience are placing new emphasis on the mammalian nature of human brains. This poses challenges for how the social sciences view the question of being human. The first lecture of this course will focus on the implications of recent neuroscience for psychology and for how we understand human behaviour. The lectures that follow will explore how the social sciences have engaged with the issue of what it means to be human, covering classical understandings as well as recent evidence from the biological and behavioural sciences. The second lecture will discuss the way in which the human has been conceptualised by neoclassical economics as ‘homo-economicus’ and how recent developments in behavioural economics are shifting our understanding. The third lecture will discuss classical political thinking (primarily Locke and Rousseau) and then turn to empirical research on power, authority, hierarchy and obedience among humans and other primates. The fourth lecture will look at the issue of sociality and antisociality by posing the question of how we understand the criminal. The course will conclude with a panel discussion reflecting on the key challenges that neuroscience poses for social science and vice versa. LECTURE TITLES: 1. The animal mind within us Mark Solms, Dept of Psychology; 2. Homo-economicus? Prof Nicoli Nattrass, School of Economics; 3. Humans, hierarchies and the study of political power, Prof Jeremy Seekings, Depts of Political Studies & Sociology (podcast not available due to technical error); 4. Who is the criminal? Prof Clifford Shearing, Centre of Criminology; *5. Economics, politics, criminology and the brain Panel discussion. DA - 2014-09-23 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - sociology KW - psychology KW - economics KW - criminology LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2014 T1 - The Human Question TI - The Human Question UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7649 ER -	en_ZA
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7649
dc.identifier.vancouvercitation	. 2014. <i>The Human Question.</i> http://hdl.handle.net/11427/7649	en_ZA
dc.language	eng	en_ZA
dc.publisher.institution	University of Cape Town
dc.relation	Related website: Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR)
dc.relation.uri	http://cssr.uct.ac.za/courses/humanquestion
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	en_ZA
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/	en_ZA
dc.subject	sociology	en_ZA
dc.subject	psychology	en_ZA
dc.subject	economics	en_ZA
dc.subject	criminology	en_ZA
dc.title	The Human Question	en_ZA
dc.type	Other	en_ZA
uct.type.filetype
uct.type.filetype	Image
uct.type.publication	Teaching and Learning	en_ZA
uct.type.resource	Recorded lecture	en_ZA