Jonathan Gottschall

Explores the latest beliefs about why people tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature, offering insights into such related topics as universal themes and what it means to have a storytelling brain.

How Stories Make Us Human

The Storytelling Animal

الحيوان الحكاء

Storytelling, a tradition that built human civilization, may soon destroy it We are storytelling animals. No other tool is as essential to human civilization as stories. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But in The Story Paradox, Jonathan Gottschall argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Stories tend to be divisive, and they are especially good at short-circuiting rational thought. Societies succeed or fail depending on how they manage these problems. And new technologies that amplify the effects of disinformation campaigns, cultural tribalism, conspiracy theories, and fake news have made separating fact from fiction nearly impossible. With clarity and conviction, Gottschall reveals why our biggest asset is also our greatest threat, and what, if anything, can be done. It is a call to stop asking "How we can change the world through stories?" and start asking "How can we save the world from stories?"

How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down

The Story Paradox

"When a mixed martial arts (MMA) gym moves in across the street from his office, Jonathan Gottschall sees a challenge, and an opportunity. Pushing forty, out of shape, and disenchanted with his job as an adjunct English professor, part of him yearns to cross the street and join up. The other part is terrified. Gottschall eventually works up his nerve, and starts training for a real cage fight. He's fighting not only as a personal test but also to answer questions that have intrigued him for years: Why do men fight? And why do so many seemingly decent people like to watch?"--Amazon.com.

Why Men Fight and why We Like to Watch

The Professor in the Cage

Il lato oscuro delle storie. Come lo storytelling cementa le società e talvolta le distrugge

««Jonathan Gottschall non è solo il più profondo pensatore in circolazione sul potente ruolo delle storie nelle nostre vite, ma è anche uno scrittore vivace e spiritoso. Il lato oscuro delle storie offre molte intuizioni e molti piaceri».» Steven Pinker, Harvard University, autore di Illuminismo adesso e Razionalità ««In questo libro provocatorio e penetrante, Jonathan Gottschall ci mostra perché le storie pericolose si diffondono così rapidamente e come portano alla divisione e alla sfiducia. Ma il nostro istinto narrativo può anche essere sfruttato per il bene, e Gottschall attinge a una serie di ricerche e storie avvincenti per mostrarci come possiamo fermare cospirazioni, bigottismo e disinformazione. Il paradosso delle storie non potrebbe essere più urgente».» Jonah Berger, autore di Influenza invisibile L’essere umano è l’animale che racconta storie. Jonathan Gottschall ha usato questa fortunata metafora in L’istinto di narrare, descrivendo magistralmente quell’ecosistema di finzione narrativa nel quale siamo immersi e che caratterizza in maniera così peculiare la nostra specie. Le storie creano la struttura delle nostre società, fanno vivere a ogni persona migliaia di vite, preparano i bambini alla vita adulta e formano i legami che ci consentono di convivere in pace. Ma tutto questo ha un lato oscuro che non possiamo più ignorare: le storie potrebbero anche essere la causa della nostra distruzione. Con questo libro Jonathan Gottschall torna sul tema della narrazione con tutto il bagaglio interdisciplinare delle sue conoscenze, attingendo alla psicologia, alla scienza della comunicazione, alle neuroscienze e alla letteratura per raccontarci fino a che punto le storie siano in grado di influenzare il nostro cervello e le nostre vite. E non sempre per il meglio. La narrazione ha agito nel corso della storia come collante delle società, certo, ma è anche la forza principale che disgrega le comunità: è il metodo più efficace che abbiamo per manipolare il prossimo eludendo il pensiero razionale. Dietro i più grandi mali della civiltà – il disastro ambientale, la demagogia, il rifiuto irrazionale della scienza, le guerre – c’è sempre una storia che confonde le menti. Le nuove tecnologie amplificano gli effetti delle campagne di disinformazione, e le teorie del complotto e le fake news rendono quasi impossibile distinguere i fatti dalla finzione, per cui la domanda che dobbiamo porci urgentemente è: «come potremo salvare il mondo dalle storie?».

Come lo storytelling cementa le società e talvolta le distrugge

Il lato oscuro delle storie

L'istinto di narrare. Come le storie ci hanno reso umani

“Insightful...draws from disparate corners of history and science to celebrate our compulsion to storify everything around us.”—The New York Times Book Review Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It’s easy to say that humans are “wired” for story, but why? In this delightful, original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life’s complex social problems—just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. Storytelling has evolved, like other behaviors, to ensure our survival. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, Gottschall tells us what it means to be a storytelling animal. Did you know that the more absorbed you are in a story, the more it changes your behavior? That all children act out the same kinds of stories, whether they grow up in a slum or a suburb? That people who read more fiction are more empathetic? Of course, our story instinct has a darker side. It makes us vulnerable to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are more “truthy” than true. National myths can also be terribly dangerous: Hitler’s ambitions were partly fueled by a story. But as Gottschall shows, stories can also powerfully change the world for the better. We know we are master shapers of story. The Storytelling Animal finally reveals how stories shape us. “Lively.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Absorbing.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “One of my favorite evolutionary psych writers—always insightful and witty.”—Steven Pinker

Storytelling, a tradition that built human civilization, may soon destroy it Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it. In The Story Paradox, Gottschall explores how a broad consortium of psychologists, communications specialists, neuroscientists, and literary quants are using the scientific method to study how stories affect our brains. The results challenge the idea that storytelling is an obvious force for good in human life. Yes, storytelling can bind groups together, but it is also the main force dragging people apart. And it’s the best method we’ve ever devised for manipulating each other by circumventing rational thought. Behind all civilization’s greatest ills—environmental destruction, runaway demagogues, warfare—you will always find the same master factor: a mind-disordering story. Gottschall argues that societies succeed or fail depending on how they manage these tensions. And it has only become harder, as new technologies that amplify the effects of disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theories, and fake news make separating fact from fiction nearly impossible. With clarity and conviction, Gottschall reveals why our biggest asset has become our greatest threat, and what, if anything, can be done. It is a call to stop asking, “How we can change the world through stories?” and start asking, “How can we save the world from stories?”

How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears them Down

L’uomo passa più tempo immerso in un universo di finzione che nel mondo reale. Nessun altro animale dipende dalla narrazione quanto l’essere umano, lo «storytelling animal». Questo strano comportamento, che ci porta a mettere al centro della nostra esistenza cose che non esistono, è innato e antichissimo. Ma a che scopo? Jonathan Gottschall studia la narrazione da molti punti di vista e si muove tra biologia, psicologia, neuroscienze e letteratura, appoggiandosi alle ricerche più avanzate, ed evoca i tangibili vantaggi del mondo fantastico. Raccontando storie i bambini imparano a gestire i rapporti sociali; con le fantasie a occhi aperti esploriamo mondi alternativi che sarebbe troppo rischioso vivere in prima persona, ma che risulteranno utilissimi nella vita reale; nei romanzi e nei film cementiamo una morale comune che permette alla società di funzionare. Il potere universale della finzione è probabilmente la nostra caratteristica più distintiva, il segreto del nostro successo evolutivo, ciò che ha reso l’uomo un animale diverso dagli altri, permettendo a lui solo di vivere contemporaneamente molte vite, accumulare esperienze diverse e costruire il proprio mondo con l’incanto dell’invenzione.

Come le storie ci hanno reso umani

L'istinto di narrare

David Sloan Wilson

The goal of this book is to overcome some of the widespread misunderstandings about the meaning of a Darwinian approach to the human mind generally, and literature specifically.

Evolution and the Nature of Narrative

The Literary Animal

Homer's epics reflect an eighth-century BCE world of warrior tribes that were fractured by constant strife; aside from its fantastic scale, nothing is exceptional about Troy's conquest by the Greeks. Using a fascinating and innovative approach, Professor Gottschall analyses Homeric conflict from the perspective of modern evolutionary biology, attributing its intensity to a shortage of available young women. The warrior practice of taking enemy women as slaves and concubines meant that women were concentrated in the households of powerful men. In turn, this shortage drove men to compete fiercely over women: almost all the main conflicts of the Iliad and Odyssey can be traced back to disputes over women. The Rape of Troy integrates biological and humanistic understanding - biological theory is used to explore the ultimate sources of pitched Homeric conflict, and Homeric society is the subject of a bio-anthropological case study of why men fight.

Evolution, Violence, and the World of Homer

The Rape of Troy

Brian Boyd

Joseph Carroll

"Original and uniqueùthere is almost by default no collection like it at present. The field of evolutionary literary studies is coalescing as I write, and the publication of this book will have a decisive and positive impact in this regard."-Peter Swirski, Author Of Literature, Analytically Speaking evolution, Literature, And Film opens with Charles Darwin on the logic of natural selection, Richard Dawkins on the genetic revolution of modern evolutionary theory, Edward O. Wilson on the unity of knowledge, Steven Pinker on the transformation of psychology into an explanatory science, and David Sloan Wilson on the integration of evolutionary theory into cultural critique. Later essays include discussions of evolutionary literary theory and film theory, interpretive commentaries on works of literature and film, and analyses using empirical methods to explore literary problems. Texts under the microscope include folk- and fairy tales; Homer's Iliad; Shakespeare's plays; works by Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, and Zora Neale Hurston; narratives in sci-fi, comics, and slash fiction; and films from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Each essay explains the contribution of evolution to a study of the human mind, human behavior, culture, and art. "Extremely well conceived, bringing together classics from the early days and the cutting edge of recent statistical scholarship. The essays are excellent and represent the best work being done right now in the field."-Blakey Vermeule, Stanford University Brian Boyd is University Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Auckland. The world's leading scholar of Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Carroll is Curators' Professor of English at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Jonathan Gottschall teaches English at Washington and Jefferson College.

Jonathan Gottschall

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