Basic Books, Inc. Publishers (New York) 1987, English text 400 pp.

Psychologist Howard Gardner was interested in cognitive matters and became curious about the methods and scope of the new cognitive science. He was convinced that cognitive science was deeply rooted in philosophy and therefore, in a sense, had a long history, but that at the same time, the field was so new that its leading figures were all alive, and some of them were still quite young. Gardner decided to make a comprehensive investigation of cognitive science, including the long view - the philosophical origins, the histories of each of the respective fields, the current work that appears most central, and his own assessment of the prospects for this ambitious field.