Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T19:08:12.097Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reasoning as a lie detection device

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2011

Jean-Louis Dessalles
Jean-Louis Dessalles
Affiliation:
Telecom ParisTech, F-75013 Paris, France. jl@dessalles.frhttp://www.dessalles.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The biological function of human reasoning abilities cannot be to improve shared knowledge. This is at best a side effect. A more plausible function of argumentation, and thus of reasoning, is to advertise one's ability to detect lies and errors. Such selfish behavior is closer to what we should expect from a naturally selected competence.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 76 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dessalles, J.-L. (1998) Altruism, status, and the origin of relevance. In: Approaches to the evolution of language: Social and cognitive bases, ed. Hurford, J. R., Studdert-Kennedy, M. & Knight, C., pp. 130–47. Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://www.dessalles.fr/papiers/pap.evol/Dessalles_96122602.pdf.Google Scholar
Dessalles, J.-L. (2007) Why we talk: The evolutionary origins of language. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dessalles, J.-L. (2008) La pertinence et ses origines cognitives: Nouvelles théories. Hermes Science. Available at: http://pertinence.dessalles.fr.Google Scholar
Dung, P. M. (1995) On the acceptability of arguments and its fundamental role in nonmonotonic reasoning, logic programming and n-person games. Artificial Intelligence 77:321–57. Available at: http://dli.iiit.ac.in/ijcai/IJCAI-93-VOL2/PDF/003.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehl, M. R., Vazire, S., Ramírez-Esparza, N., Slatcher, R. B. & Pennebaker, J. W. (2007) Are women really more talkative than men? Science 317:82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed