Stories may come first, but they don't come alone
I critically engage with Francesco Ferretti’s hypothesis that narratives are the primary evolutionary driver of human language. Ferretti argues that language evolved from gestural storytelling used for persuasion, positioning narrative as prior to and independent of propositional structures. While I...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Mimesis Edizioni, Milano
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/rifp/article/view/rifp.2025.0006 |
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| Summary: | I critically engage with Francesco Ferretti’s hypothesis that narratives are the primary evolutionary driver of human language. Ferretti argues that language evolved from gestural storytelling used for persuasion, positioning narrative as prior to and independent of propositional structures. While I acknowledge the merits of this approach and its contrast with the Chomskyan model, I question the theoretical clarity of the concept of “narrative” and its supposed universal persuasive function. I also doubt that pantomimed stories could have played such a central evolutionary role. Instead, I propose a “mosaic” view of language evolution, in which multiple interacting factors – cognitive, social, and biological – contributed gradually and non-linearly to the emergence of language. I conclude that Ferretti’s narrative-centred model, though suggestive, is overly reductive and underestimates the complex, multifactorial nature of language development. |
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| ISSN: | 2039-4667 2239-2629 |