This book emphasizes capturing the worth of human experience, the cognitive base of diverse forms of human activity, and the importance of dissolving the boundaries that decrease the pursuit of knowledge. The line between nature and culture and science and the humanities is and should be quite permeable, and the two are fairly continuous with each other. My hope is to demonstrate this permeability in my investigative approach.

The goal is a union of sorts through a regulative norm of self-corrective inquiry and an appreciation of the hypothetical nature of knowledge production and the embodied cognitive systems that reveal our diverse forms of interpretations and adaptation to circumstances.

Two concepts figure importantly with regard to human action: agency and animacy. The first is the recognition of another person as having beliefs, desires, a sense of experience. The second is the recognition of an object as alive, a piece of biology. Both reflect a predilection in our cognitive architecture and are fundamental to an evolving but fragile sense of humanity.

We need to be rooted to a sense of our evolution, our sense of living things. We need to develop sensibilities that highlight the importance of animate objects and recognize the beliefs and desires of others. Additionally, we need to further develop an educational sense rooted in history (a sense of agency), while still being mindful of the uncertain prospects and diverse threats.

My perspective is rooted in psychobiology, contemporary behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, and classical pragmatism.