| Author |
Boyd, Brian |
| Year |
2009 |
| Publisher |
Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard UP |
| Number of pages |
560 |
| ISBN |
9780674057111 |
| Keywords |
|
Abstract
Amazon (2013):
A century and a half after the publication of Origin of Species, evolutionary thinking
has expanded beyond the field of biology to include virtually all human-related subjects—anthropology,
archeology, psychology, economics, religion, morality, politics, culture, and art.
Now a distinguished scholar offers the first comprehensive account of the evolutionary
origins of art and storytelling. Brian Boyd explains why we tell stories, how our
minds are shaped to understand them, and what difference an evolutionary understanding
of human nature makes to stories we love.
Art is a specifically human adaptation, Boyd argues. It offers tangible advantages
for human survival, and it derives from play, itself an adaptation widespread among
more intelligent animals. More particularly, our fondness for storytelling has sharpened
social cognition, encouraged cooperation, and fostered creativity.
After considering art as adaptation, Boyd examines Homer’s Odyssey and Dr. Seuss’s
Horton Hears a Who! demonstrating how an evolutionary lens can offer new understanding
and appreciation of specific works. What triggers our emotional engagement with these
works? What patterns facilitate our responses? The need to hold an audience’s attention,
Boyd underscores, is the fundamental problem facing all storytellers. Enduring artists
arrive at solutions that appeal to cognitive universals: an insight out of step with
contemporary criticism, which obscures both the individual and universal. Published
for the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication
of Origin of Species, Boyd’s study embraces a Darwinian view of human nature and art,
and offers a credo for a new humanism.
