Language and the Mind

By: Spencer D. Kelly, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Spencer D. Kelly

Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

What is our species' greatest invention? Medicine, computers, space travel? Not even close. The innovation that underlies each of our past achievements and those we still aspire to is language. Language is the ultimate invention of Homo sapiens - one that has allowed us to change the physical and social world around us in every conceivable way, and an invention that has fundamentally changed us, as well. Research has shown that whether we're sighted or blind, hearing or deaf, one or one hundred years old, communication through language is a fundamental part of what it means to be human.

In 24 fascinating lectures, Dr. Spencer Kelly, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Colgate University, takes us on a fascinating journey into so many aspects of life we take for granted every day: our ability to remember the past and imagine a future, our use of hand gestures and facial expressions in communication, our capacity for storytelling, and so much more. You will explore fascinating questions, such as the origin of the human mind, what makes our communication so much different than other animals, whether or not language itself influences thought, and how babies learn their native language without direct teaching. You will follow along, finding yourself intrigued, surprised, and enthralled by it all because...you possess the power of language.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC

brilliant insights into the mind

very well done and well researched with many references to modern research showing many perspectives on controversial issues.

Timely science,Bless this exciting education book

Audio book education, monied only please. Timely, cutting edge science is not available in Libraries.
The library that can not compete with Amazon cash com After getting exciting information in a half dozen similar books I went to an education logo, for college level background. Never thinking I
I'd find such a great read.

Lol and behold, cutting edge, timely science.., I was so pleased. low income keeps us ignorant, library only for ...?

Great Courses can put out this quality..., do it for the people of earth, science for all.

outstanding book

The lectures look at the language from many different angles I never even thought about. it gave me one more argument to study new languages. Highly recommended.

Another Enjoyable Great Course

I was a poet’s physics kind of a student at college so this course suited me well. At times the science got a bit beyond me but for the most part Professor Kelly does a very good job of delivering his lectures in a way that keeps it accessible and interesting. I am teaching ESL as a retirement vocation and found the material pertinent and informative. If, like me, you are a fan of the Great Courses and you find language fascinating, I recommend to you Language and the Mind.

The Mind is the Final Frontier

This Course takes the listener through the startling findings on the human mind and how language interacts with it. There is not a single preconceived notion that will go unchallenged as you work your way through this material. Language is barely understood, the mind even less so.

Well Thought, Well Spoken

In a course entitled "Language and the Mind", I was hoping to see research by Chomsky, Lakoff, and Dehaene. I was not disappointed, and you'll find all this and more here. I was even happily surprised to see Goodale's and Milner's famous Two Streams Hypothesis make an appearance, and not a brief one, being relevant to material from Lecture 14 onward. We even get discussion of work by McWhorter, and Chalmers' and Clark's Extended Mind is used throughout.

Not to say that all said research is taken at face value; Dr Kelly takes a nuanced and balanced approach which I very much appreciate. This is particularly true for his presentation of embodied "vs" representational cognition as related to language. I couldn't be happier with the scholarship or the presentation. Well thought. Well spoken :-)

Dissection

It was interesting, yet I struggled with the focus needed for me to make it enjoyable.

The science is great

The best great courses entry I've listened to so far. Great references to relevant studies and books.

Clear and Engaging Explanations That Are Neither Woke Nor PC

Prof Kelly explains the concepts well and attracts the listeners even though the concepts themselves maybe a bit dull and academic. Nowhere in this course does he shows even a slight hint of how he does not like the so-called “western civilization” whatever that means.

Worth listening to every minute of this brief course, and you WILL learn about others and about yourself that you may have never noticed.

Very interesting

A bit dry, but very interesting. If you’re into psycho linguistics, this is just up your alley.