Fr. 169.00

The Evolutionary History of Witch-hunting - A Qualitative Darwinian Approach

Anglais · Livre Relié

Expédition généralement dans un délai de 6 à 7 semaines

Description

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Why did early modern Europeans hunt for witches? Were these persecutions a shrewd tool to oppress women or the poor, or were they just a way of making money? Or were witch-hunters primarily driven by a genuine belief in witchcraft? The witches' sabbath, the diabolical pact, and the nightly flight were elements in the early modern concept of witchcraft that seem to have been intelligently designed to trigger persistent witch persecutions. But in contrast to what many past historical scholars presumed, witch-hunts were not based on intelligent design. So how to explain them? This book proposes a new model: Darwinian cultural evolution. It contends that witch-hunting's apparent design emerged from a hidden evolutionary process in which cultural variants which accidentally unleashed larger persecutions were cumulatively preserved. Witch-hunting did not so much evolve to serve human interests but to ensure its own 'selfish' reproduction. Historians have often compared witch persecutions to the outbreaks of contagious disease, but only as a figure of speech. But shouldn't we take the similarities more seriously? This book argues that witch-hunting was a cultural 'virus' that spread at the expense of its human hosts, and thus bridges the gap between qualitative history and the burgeoning field of Darwinian cultural evolution.

Table des matières

1. Introduction.- 2. Foundations.- 3. Functions.- 4. The Theory.- 5. Witch-hunts.- 6. Explanations.- 7. Cases.- 8. Reflections.- 9. Conclusion.

A propos de l'auteur

Steije Hofhuis is a historian and works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center, Germany

Détails du produit

Auteurs Steije Hofhuis
Edition Springer, Berlin
 
Langues Anglais
Format d'édition Livre Relié
Sortie 11.11.2024
 
EAN 9783031669354
ISBN 978-3-0-3166935-4
Pages 376
Dimensions 148 mm x 24 mm x 210 mm
Poids 595 g
Illustrations XV, 376 p.
Catégories Sciences humaines, art, musique > Histoire > Histoire par région/pays

Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte, Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Ideengeschichte, Geistesgeschichte, Cultural History, History of Science, functionalism, Intellectual History, History of Early Modern Europe, Cultural Evolution, ca. 1500 bis zur Gegenwart, demonology, witch-hunts, Darwinism

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