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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 Literary Studies and the Third Culture Curtis D. Carbonell Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES LITERARY STUDIES AND THE THIRD CULTURE By CURTIS D. CARBONELL A Dissertation sub itted to the Depart ent of Interdisciplinary Hu anities in partial fulfill ent of the require ents for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Se ester, 2..9 Copyright 0 2..9 Curtis D. Carbonell All Rights Reser1ed The e bers of the Co ittee appro1e the Dissertation of Curtis D. Carbonell defended on Dece ber 9th, 2..2. ______________________ 4ar5 Cooper Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ______________________ Ralph Berry Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ______________________ 4ichael Ruse Outside Co ittee 4e ber ______________________ Da1id 7ohnson Co ittee 4e ber Appro1ed: _____________________________________________ Da1id 7ohnson, Chair, Depart ent of Interdisciplinary Hu anities ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................1 PREFACE .........................................................................................................................1ii INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 Defining the Third Culture...........................................................................................1 Methodology ..................................................................................................................9 Structure ......................................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 1 THE :EDGE STRATEGY: INTELLIGENT DESIGN AND THE 4ECHANIS4S OF POST4ODERNITY .........................................................................................................22 Introduction .................................................................................................................22 Postmodernism: A Quick Definition .........................................................................24 The Wedge Strategy....................................................................................................27 Johnson a Postmodernist ..........................................................................................31 Johnson and the Meta-Narrative of Christianity..................................................... 34 Conclusion....................................................................................................................36 CHAPTER 2 THE THIRD CULTURE AND THE PROBLE4 OF THE HU4AN .............................32 Introduction .................................................................................................................32 The Third Culture....................................................................................................... 39 Foucault and Problems of Representation................................................................46 Cognitive Literary Theory as a New Interdisciplinarity .........................................56 Hayles and Hart: the Importance of Continua......................................................... 6. Spolksy and Gaps ........................................................................................................ 62 Conclusion....................................................................................................................65 CHAPTER 3 CONSILIENCE: THE THIRD CULTURE AND THE ENGAGE4ENT OF THE SCIENCES AND THE HU4ANITIES............................................................................ 67 Introduction .................................................................................................................67 Wilson: Sociobiology, Gene-Culture Coevolution, .iophilia, Consilience.............7. Gould: A Different Definition of Consilience ...........................................................93 Conclusion..................................................................................................................1.. CHAPTER 4 SPANDRELS AND THE INSTITUTION OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY: A CULTURAL STUDIES APPROACH TO GOULD AND THE THIRD CULTURE ...1.2 Introduction ...............................................................................................................1.2 Postmodern Turn ...................................................................................................... 1.3 Science as a Social Institution: Ideology, Spandrels, and the Adaptationist Programme ................................................................................................................1.5 Daniel Dennett/s Response .......................................................................................117 Conclusion..................................................................................................................119 CHAPTER 5 GOULD AS A THIRD CULTURE THINKER: REVISING @DAR:INIS4A.............12. Introduction ...............................................................................................................12. Gould Contra Literary Darwinism..........................................................................121 iii Popular Sphere: the Comment and Response ........................................................ 125 Professional Sphere: a Career of 0pposition ......................................................... 132 Conclusion..................................................................................................................139 CHAPTER 6 EVOLUTIONARY LITERARY STUDIES: THE FAILURE OF LITERARY DAR:INIS4 .................................................................................................................14. Introduction ...............................................................................................................14. Literary Animal......................................................................................................... 141 Literary Darwinism: The Political Agenda ............................................................147 Literary Darwinism: Methodology..........................................................................152 Carroll Contra Gould ...............................................................................................16. Conclusion..................................................................................................................165 CHAPTER 7 A CONSILIENT SCIENCE AND HU4ANITIES: IAN 4CE:AN‘S ENDURING LOVE ..............................................................................................................................167 Introduction ...............................................................................................................167 Shared Ground between the Sciences and the Humanities...................................169 The novel ....................................................................................................................172 Conclusion..................................................................................................................124 REFERENCES................................................................................................................126 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ..........................................................................................197 i1 ABSTRACT This dissertation is predicated on the notion that the concept of the Third Culture describes a do inant intellectual force in conte porary society and that literary and cultural studies thin5ers ust learn to engage it while aintaining and understanding the rich and 1aried history of hu anistic thought Ce1en its ost s5eptical 5indD. The Third Culture describes a o1e beyond the traditional categories of the @sciencesA and the @hu anitiesA to show how they ha1e been transgressed and are being transgressed. Thus, such a new concept needs to address these disciplines that properly reflect how the sciences and hu anities intersect. To do so, this dissertation analyEes the Third Culture through se1eral a1enues fro critical theory to e1olutionary biology to conte porary literature and culture. These a1enues con1erge by 1iewing the sciences and the hu anities as co patible do ains, e1en while recogniEing their i portant distinctions. Beginning with a cultural reading of the :edge strategy, an Intelligent Design agenda ai ed at reinserting theis into secular culture 1ia the echanis s of Post odernity C edia tools of an ad1anced post-industrial societyD, this dissertation announces the need for attention paid to finding co on ground between hu anists and scientists because of the difficulty of finding such ground Cwe donFt read each other carefully enoughD and because both are being attac5ed by the sa e parties Ci.e., fro the right by politically oti1ated theistsD. It follows by arguing 1ia 4ichel Foucault and cogniti1e literary studies that 7ohn Broc5 anBs use of hu anis is isguided in his definition of the Third Culture. It then atte pts a proper approach to the sciences and the hu anities by re1ising E.O. :ilsonBs consilience of reducti1e unification 1ia Stephen 7ay GouldBs consilience