Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime
In his piece Stories come first, Francesco Ferretti offers a bold and fresh philosophical perspective on language and its evolutionary origins, arguing that human thought is discursive (narrative, specifically) rather than propositional, and that “thinking in stories” is therefore phylogenetically p...
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| Format: | Article |
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Mimesis Edizioni, Milano
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia |
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| Online Access: | https://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/rifp/article/view/rifp.2025.0004 |
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| author | Marta Sibierska Slawomir Wacewicz |
| author_facet | Marta Sibierska Slawomir Wacewicz |
| author_sort | Marta Sibierska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In his piece Stories come first, Francesco Ferretti offers a bold and fresh philosophical perspective on language and its evolutionary origins, arguing that human thought is discursive (narrative, specifically) rather than propositional, and that “thinking in stories” is therefore phylogenetically prior to thinking in sentences or similar linguistic structures. In our article, we comment on the key points of Ferretti’s account. We agree with the main claims regarding the important cognitive role that stories have played in the evolution of human cognition, and continue to play even today. We also offer three caveats, or points we believe warrant further discussion. Firstly, we emphasize that today’s stories are necessarily different from the “prototypes” shared in our ancestral past. Secondly, we suggest that Ferretti’s account of the evolution of the persuasiveness of stories should be strengthened by a more thorough analysis of the adaptiveness of listening to (and being persuaded by) stories. A third, minor point relates to the usefulness of a clear distinction between pantomime and gesture in the context of language origin theories. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e2751ef3c79243e9801ff974919fe153 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2039-4667 2239-2629 |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Mimesis Edizioni, Milano |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia |
| spelling | doaj-art-e2751ef3c79243e9801ff974919fe1532025-08-20T03:34:24ZdeuMimesis Edizioni, MilanoRivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia2039-46672239-26292025-01-01161303410.4453/rifp.2025.0004Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomimeMarta SibierskaSlawomir WacewiczIn his piece Stories come first, Francesco Ferretti offers a bold and fresh philosophical perspective on language and its evolutionary origins, arguing that human thought is discursive (narrative, specifically) rather than propositional, and that “thinking in stories” is therefore phylogenetically prior to thinking in sentences or similar linguistic structures. In our article, we comment on the key points of Ferretti’s account. We agree with the main claims regarding the important cognitive role that stories have played in the evolution of human cognition, and continue to play even today. We also offer three caveats, or points we believe warrant further discussion. Firstly, we emphasize that today’s stories are necessarily different from the “prototypes” shared in our ancestral past. Secondly, we suggest that Ferretti’s account of the evolution of the persuasiveness of stories should be strengthened by a more thorough analysis of the adaptiveness of listening to (and being persuaded by) stories. A third, minor point relates to the usefulness of a clear distinction between pantomime and gesture in the context of language origin theories.https://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/rifp/article/view/rifp.2025.0004narrativecognitive evolutionstorytellinglanguage originspantomimegesture |
| spellingShingle | Marta Sibierska Slawomir Wacewicz Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia narrative cognitive evolution storytelling language origins pantomime gesture |
| title | Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime |
| title_full | Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime |
| title_fullStr | Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime |
| title_full_unstemmed | Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime |
| title_short | Three points to strengthen the “stories-come-first” account of language origins: protostories, story-susceptibility, and pantomime |
| title_sort | three points to strengthen the stories come first account of language origins protostories story susceptibility and pantomime |
| topic | narrative cognitive evolution storytelling language origins pantomime gesture |
| url | https://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/rifp/article/view/rifp.2025.0004 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT martasibierska threepointstostrengthenthestoriescomefirstaccountoflanguageoriginsprotostoriesstorysusceptibilityandpantomime AT slawomirwacewicz threepointstostrengthenthestoriescomefirstaccountoflanguageoriginsprotostoriesstorysusceptibilityandpantomime |