The Hand: A Philosophical Inquiry into Human Being

Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Overture 1 Grasping the Hand 1.1 Preliminary Grapplings 1.2 The Manipulative Hand 1.3 The Knowing Hand 1.4 The Communicative Hand 1.5 From Prehension to Apprehension Part I Brachio-Chiral 2 The Armed Hand 2.1 Two Fingers to Over-digitisation 2.2 The Genius of Reaching 2.3 Mechanism and Agency 3 The Talking Hand 3.1 Introduction: The Sign-making Animal 3.2 Gesturing 3.3 Clapping and Other Hand Shouting 3.4 Handsome 4 Hand Talking to Hand 4.1 Manucaption 4.2 The Dialogue of the Left Hand with the Right 4.3 The Interlocutors 4.4 The Hand Talking to its Self or the Self 5 The Playful Hand 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Carnal Hand 5.3 Hand Games 5.4 Post-script: Handy (like) Part II Chiro-Digital 6 One-finger Exercises 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Thumb 6.3 Index 6.4 Middle 6.5 Ring 6.6 Little 7 Polydactylic Exercises 7.1 Introduction: The Ordeal of Precision 7.2 Two Fingers 7.3 Three Fingers 7.4 Four Fingers 7.5 Five Fingers 7.6 Ten Fingers 8 Abstract Digits 8.1 Introduction and Disclaimer 8.2 The Number Sense: From Magnitudes to Digits 8.3 Digits and Digits 8.4 Units: From Counting to Measurement 8.5 The Unreasonable Power of the Precision of Abstract Digits 9The Tool of Tools 9.1 Prologue: The Self-shaping Hand 9.2 Tool-using, Tool-making and the Tool of Tools 9.3 Tools and the Origin of Human Culture 9.4 Eolith and SuperCray 9.5 Tools and Language 9.6 Brain, Tools and Language 9.7 Beyond Biology and Biologism 9.8 Epilogue: Handicraft Appendix: Karl Marx and the Collectivisation of Human Consciousness in Tools Part III Towards Chiro-Philosophy 10 Getting and Grip on the Conscious Human Agent 10.1 Recapitulation 10.2 The Dawn of the Conscious Human Agent 10.3 From Biology to Philosophical Anthropology Coda 11 Waving Farewell to the Hand 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The Paradox of Handyman: (1) Part of and Separate from Nature 11.3 The Paradox of the Handyman: (2) Subject to and Yet Manipulating Nature's Laws 11.4 The Balance Sheet: (1) Knowledge. Does the Hand Grasp the Truth? 11.5 The Balance Sheet: (2) Moral and Spiritual 11.6 Handing On 11.7 A Last Wave Farewell Index.