THE RECURSIVE MIND

A commonly held belief is that language makes us uniquely human. Michael Corballis argues that our main distinguishing factor is actually what drives language and speech: the recursive mind. Recursion gives us the ability to embed our thoughts and experiences into those of others, as well as through time as we imagine the future, relive the past, and experience present consciousness. Drawing on many of the popular sciences, Corballis explains the critical role recursion has played through out history, starting with the Pleistocene epoch.

Michael C. Corballis is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.