originstories

=The structure of origin stories=

1. Introduction
 * The Ideas of Nature chapter introduced the idea that interpretation exposes what is only implicit in an account. This chapter interprets story-telling, focusing on origin stories both outside science and inside.


 * Story tellers select elements and arrange them in a sequence. Selection and arrangement simplify the complexity of influences needing to be considered to understand the outcome and cover over the uncertain or unknowable information.  The story-teller not only gives emphasis or credence to the outcome, but can also try to make plausible the causality implied in the story.


 * Stories are more compelling if they adopt a familiar structure and if they resonate with other stories.
 * The influence of structural (or structuring) themes can be seen by identifying them and asking what would happen to the account if an opposing or alternative theme were employed.
 * Playing one theme off against another and creating some interpretive tension is an example of critical thinking in the sense of understanding ideas or practice better by holding them in tension with alternatives.

> 1. they attempt to deal with uncertain or unknowable information, e.g., in accounts of origins--both the point of origin and the subsequent history--and evolution; or > 2. with many connections and causes rather than a few experimentally controlled factors.
 * Origin stories are important because they are used to make sense of and often to justify the state of affairs we find ourselves in now.
 * Many scientific accounts can be read as stories or narratives (Landau as described in Lewin), especially when

1b. Mini-lecture > Initial questions: Why tell stories? How do stories get to be memorable and persuasive? Why are origins important? Why do we tell stories to explain origins? > Examine [|first chapter of Genesis] to introduce the idea of looking for themes that structure biological accounts, especially those used to explain origins and the history of life. >> > Additional question: Is story-telling an acceptable part of science? > An invented account of the origin of human intelligence that employs non-standard structuring themes.

2. Readings Hrdy, S. B. (1981). "An Initial Inequality". Pp. 20-23 in The Woman That Never Evolved. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press > Precis TBA Lewin, R. (1987). "The storytellers". Pp. 30-46 in Bones of contention: Controversies in the search for human origins. New York: Simon & Schuster > Precis TBA Martin, E. (1991). "The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles." Signs 16(3): 485-501. > Precis TBA Full versions: See password-protected readings


 * Locate 1 or 2 accounts in textbooks or elsewhere of either a) sperm and egg production; b) the passage to fertilization; or c) contact and fusion. Do the accounts you find reinforce or depart from Martin’s analysis of gender bias? Do they fit Landau’s structure of stories told about human evolution (as described in Lewin)? Come to class prepared to discuss these questions.
 * Come with ideas and questions about how to extract the themes that structure Hrdy's account of the origin of sex differences.

3. Activity Based on preparation above, pairwise discussion of Martin's interpretation and analysis of structure of Hrdy, followed by whole-class discussion.

(Time permitting) Given that sometimes we describe our lives in a linear narrative; sometimes we emphasize its multiple strands, contingency, etc., reflect on the different situations in which you use the different themes to organize your life descriptions.

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