Our breathtaking intelligence is embodied in our skills. Think of Olympic gymnastics, and the amount of strength and control required to perform even a simple beam routine; think of a carpenter skillfully carving the wood, where complicated techniques come across as sheer easiness of the bodily movements; of a pianist performing a sonata, balancing technical virtuosity with elegance. Throughout our lifetimes, we acquire and refine a vast number of skills, and the improvement and refinement of skills are not bound to the human lifespan alone either: somehow, they also cross generations. Skills both foster cultural evolution and are refined by it – for example, in the way cultural evolution perfects tools and building techniques. What makes skills possible? And how can skills explain our successes? This book is the first systematic discussion of skills: of their nature, and of their relation to knowledge and reasoning.

‘In this outstanding book Pavese delivers one of the most systematic, rich, and rewarding accounts of skills to be found anywhere in the philosophical literature. The book is essential reading for philosophers directly working on the nature and acquisition of skills (individual and collective), intentional action, and intelligence, and it could benefit many others who rely on these notions in more applied contexts. Pavese also draws expertly on relevant work from cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, biology, and linguistics, and her views deserve to find an audience with any theorists doing serious work on skills, no matter what discipline they reside in.'

Yuri Cath - La Trobe University