Issues and Problems in the Blending of Cognitive Science, Evolutionary Psychology, and Literary Study

The present issue of Poetics Today brings together seven different writings that in one way or another have to do with the interdisciplinary mix of cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and literary studies. For the sake of discussion I will separate the essays into different kinds based on different qualities, even though all share the qualities to some degree.We have samples of two main kinds of interdisciplinary work, namely metalevel discussions of large issues and working examples of practical interpretation. In the first category we begin with Mark Turner, who gives us a generalized overview of the current situation and its prospects and focuses on one interpretive device, conceptual blending, which he considers to be the primary crossover concept from the realm of cognitive studies into the realm of the humanities. We get from Ellen Spolsky a different overview of the issues. In terms of both evolutionary theory and cognitive psychology, she shows why no absolute divide need exist between empirically based critical approaches and the post-structuralist approaches that still dominate literary studies. From Paul Hernadi we get what might be considered a ground laying of fairly general ideas about ‘‘literature’s role in the coevolution of human nature and cultures.’’ Reuven Tsur, extrapolating from studies of prosody, makes the case that cultural forms or programs ‘‘have solid cognitive foundations and are shaped and constrained by the natural capacities and constraints of the human brain.’’ The remaining essays, though they all make at least some generalized claims, are most notable for giving us