the historical position of literary darwinism and evolutionary aesthetics joseph carroll

The Historical Position

of Literary Darwinism

and evolutionary aesthetics

Joseph Carroll

The physical sciences,

the life sciences,

the social sciences,

and the humanities

Are moving toward integration.

2010

1998

Physics, astronomy

Molecular biology, genetics

Evolutionary biology

Humanities

Causal Constraint

Evolutionary social sciences

Chemistry

Humanities

Evolutionary Biology

Molecular biology

Physics

Organizational Complexity

Chemistry

Evolutionary Social Sciences

Evolutionary Biology

Physics

Chemistry

Molecular biology

Evolutionary social sciences

Humanities

Evolutionary biology is the

Pivotal discipline Linking

the physical scienceswith

the human sciences, &

the humanities

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

1. Geology (1830-33)

2. Evolutionary biology (1859)

3. Evolutionary social science (1975)

4. Evolutionary humanities (1992)

Time Line

1833 1992

Geology

1859

Biology

1910

{SSSM}

1975

Evolutionary social

science Evolutionary humanities

Time Line

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

1. Geology (1830-33)

1830-33

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

2. Evolutionary biology (1859)

1859 1871 1872

Descent with Modification was accepted almost immediately.

Natural Selection was not fully accepted until the 1930s.

1992 2002

The SSSM Interregnum: 1910-1975

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

3. Evolutionary social science (1975)

1968 1973-80 1979

1988 1991 1992

1975

2005

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

4. Evolutionary humanities (1992)

1995 1996

2000 2002 2004

1992 1999

2003

2006 2007 20072005

20082007 2008 2009

2009 2009 2009

2010 2011 2012

2010

A Consilient Program:

A Consilient Program:

Evolutionary

Ideas

A Consilient Program:

Evolutionary

Ideas

A Consilient Program:

Empirical

Methods

Evolutionary

Ideas

and

• Website questionnaire on 2,000 characters from 202 British novels of the longer 19th century

• 1,494 protocols completed

• Separate website for Thomas Hardy’s

The Mayor of Casterbridge (124 protocols completed)

• 441 individual characters profiled and graphed

Conclusion from

Graphing Jane Austen:

moral disposition

counts overwhelmingly more

than the

sex of characters.

Agonistic structure mirrors the basic political dynamic in egalitarian hunter-gatherer cultures.

Antagonists

seek dominance.

Antagonists

seek dominance.

Protagonists

are prosocial.

To recapitulate

Four Paradigm Formations,

Each nested in the other:

1. Geology (1830-33)

2. Evolutionary biology (1859)

3. Evolutionary social science (1975)

4. Evolutionary humanities (1992)

1830-33

1859 1871 1872

1968 1973-80 1979

1988 1991 1992

1975

2005

1995 1996

2000 2002 2004

1992 1999

2003

Evolutionary Psychology

is a paradigm

still in process

of formation.

Flexible general intelligence

has now been added in.

1996 2003 2005

Cooperative Group Living is still being added in.

1998 1999

20122012

2011

2012

And we are still strugglingto add in

culture and the imagination.

1981

1992

2009

Gene-Culture Co-Evolution

Imaginative Culture

Three

main versions

of

the adapted mind

The Adapted Human Mind

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

The Adapted Human Mind

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

The Adapted Human Mind

1992 1997

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

The Adapted Human Mind

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

General Intelligence:

Technology

Logistics

Social Organization

Trade

Theology

Philosophy

History

Aesthetics

Science

Broad-School EP =

Narrow-School EP

Plus

The Adapted Human Mind

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

General Intelligence:

Technology

Logistics

Social Organization

Trade

Theology

Philosophy

History

Aesthetics

Science

Broad-School EP =

Narrow-School EP

Plus

The Adapted Human Mind

2005

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

General Intelligence:

Technology

Logistics

Social Organization

Trade

Theology

Philosophy

History

Aesthetics

Science

Broad-School EP =

Narrow-School EP

Plus

The Adapted Human Mind

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

General Intelligence:

Technology

Logistics

Social Organization

Trade

Theology

Philosophy

History

Aesthetics

Science

Broad-School EP =

Narrow-School EP

Plus

Humanist EP =

Broad-School EP

Plus

Imagination:

Religion

Art

Music

Stories

Myths

Ideology

The Adapted Human Mind

Humanist EP =

Broad-School EP

Plus

Imagination:

Religion

Art

Music

Stories

Myths

Ideology

The Evolved and Adapted Human Mind

2000 2009

2010 2012

Instincts,

Dispositions,

Motives:

Survival

Growing Up

Sociality

Mating

Parenting

Kinship,

plus side effects:

(art, pornography, religion, drugs)

Narrow-School EP =

General Intelligence:

Technology

Logistics

Social Organization

Trade

Theology

Philosophy

History

Aesthetics

Science

Broad-School EP =

Narrow-School EP

Plus

Humanist EP =

Broad-School EP

Plus

Imagination:

Religion

Art

Music

Stories

Myths

Ideology

The Adapted Human Mind

The fully human mindis like a

matryoshka doll

It has nested levels.

Narrow-School EP

Basic Motives

Narrow-School EP

Broad-School EP

Basic Motives

General Intelligence

Narrow-School EP

Broad-School EP

Humanist EP

Basic Motives

General Intelligence

Imagination

What does all this

have to do

with

Aesthetics

and

literary Criticism?

Human nature

Human nature

Motives,

Passions

= Human life history

Human nature

Human nature

Specific cultures

Human nature

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Human nature

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Particular works

of art

Human nature

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Human nature

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Particular works

of art

We’ve comethis far.

What comes next?

More complete integration

between

human universals

and

specific historical periods.

Human universals

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Particular works

of art

Human universals

Specific cultures

Individual artists

Particular works

of art

2007 2010

2011 20122011

2005

We have made

some progress.

2002 2007 2008

2009 2009 2012

We’ll

Make more.

Thanksfor

yourattention.