COGNITIVE PRAGMATISM - FROM EVERY DAY ARI THMETIC TO ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE

From an original personal experience as mathematics teacher in Mali, t he author tackles a major topic: reassessing the grounds for the class ical opposition between formal and informal knowledge, abstract and co ncrete thought, scientific reasoning and common sense. Light is shed o n the cognitive complexity of mental calculations by illiterate or uns chooled persons, ranging from Bambara peasants to workers in Baltimore , and American housewives to street vendors in Brazil. Research casts doubt on the pertinence of classical cognitive models for problem-solv ing, for learning and knowledge transfer. These models overlook questi ons of meaning, motivation and context.