The stuff below re the primary task of art caught my eye (& imagination) - no doubt going over old ground. The thought that occurred & appealed to me was -...
Dang, I know I should keep my big mouth shut, but as a writer of poetry, this just sounds like so much hogwash in a bucket. Sorry guys. It may have important...
It is well known that Steven Pinker is skeptical that the arts are biologically adaptive. His best known statement on this matter is in *How the Mind Works*...
I note an upcoming ASC Conference http://asc.nhc.rtp.nc.us/?page_id=2%0a which looks interesting, with the usual Pinker, Dennett guys plus Joseph Carroll. ...
I'm forwarding an appeal from an editor of a new series on science and literature at Palgrave. She is asking interested scholars to write letters supporting a...
I'd like to check out an impression of mine. The Dieners, I think, claimed that something like 60% plus of people are "happy". And this, it seems to me, is...
Hi all. Hadn't heard any chatter here about this book: Proust was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer. Wonder what any of you think. Here's the review from...
I am very interested to hear about Lehrer's book--and am grateful to Stephen Berer for pointing it out. For some time now I have been pursuing a hypothesis...
I am very interested to hear about Lehrer's book--and am grateful to Stephen Berer for pointing it out. For some time now I have been pursuing a hypothesis...
Mike--Not sure this helps, but I am teaching a course next semester called "Tainted Love," in which I claim that writers tend to write more about bad love than...
Jeff: Didn't Tolstoy capture the issue with the first line of "Anna Karenina"?: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."...
The piece on Dissanayake is coming out tomorrow in the NY Times. Joseph Carroll English Department University of Missouri---St.Louis St. Louis, MO 63121 314...
Thank you for the recommendation. I enjoyed "Inventing English." The question posed earlier is a fascinating one. Perhaps it has something to do with what...
Brett, Jason, et al--The Anna Karenina link is a good one. Following Joe Carroll and E. O. Wilson's functionalist claims for literature, I suppose it makes...
Jeff:I suppose it makes sense that tragic plots and tainted loves attract our attention. Who feels they have to practice for the good things in life? If...
Mike-- Well, let's see, I've been a novelist and short story writer for 32 years, a working archeologist for 29 years, and an English student/professor for...
BiopoeticsHi Guys, I haven't been following things lately, so I was interested, following Bill's link to the Valve, to see a couple of informative threads, one...
Mike--I'm not sure how others feel about this, but I attended half a dozen conferences last year in both literature and science, and in all cases I encountered...
Jeff:But I suspect egalitarian and universal artistry is a compound contradiction in terms. If art is a (multi-function) tool, we will always want to select...
Mike--I'm sort of thinking through this as I go along, too. The teacher in me wants to think that all of my students can be very good writers and thinkers if...
Hi, all. I'm not a professor or in academics but if I may say something: I don't think we should be afraid of qualifying people or tendencies - or talents -...
Jef:The artist and employer in me sees very different capacities in my peers and employees, many of which they seem to be unable to augment in a substantive...
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