the historical position of literary darwinism and evolutionary aesthetics joseph carroll
TRANSCRIPT
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.