陶筹到文字:认知的发展

Tokens and Writing:the Cognitive Development

文章以远古西亚地区计数方式的演变为例来分析抽象能力的发展。陶筹表明人类计数方式最初是通过具体的一一对应的方式实现的。公元前7500年的西亚陶筹表现其所代表物品的方式却是抽象的,比如以锥形陶筹表示谷物量器。公元前3300年,人们开始用空心泥球来保存有计数功能的陶筹,以更为抽象的符号刻画在其表面来记录其内封存的陶筹。这个过程发展到最高阶段便产生了具有抽象意义的数字,随后文字也就应运而生。

The paper analyses the development of the power of abstraction as illustrated by the evolution of counting in the ancient Near East Tokens indicate that counting was first done concretely in one-to-one correspondence.The clay tokens,that appeared in the Near East about 7500 BC,abstraceted the goods they represented.For example a cone abstracted a measure of grain.About 3300 BC,when tokens were kept in envelopes,markings on envelopes abstracted the tokens held inside.Abstract numbers are the culmination of the process,following the invention of writing.