00900cam0 22002771 450 SOBE0001770920150709084817.0071008242820110915d1975 |||||ita|0103 baengGBJohn DonneEdited by A. J. SmithLondon and BostonRoutledge & Kegan Paul1975XVII,511 p.22 cm<The >critical heritage series001LAEC000186082001 The *critical heritage seriesSmith, A. J.SOBA00000918070ITUNISOB20150709RICAUNISOBUNISOB820|Coll|6|K33155SOBE00017709M 102 Monografia moderna SBNM820|Coll|6|K000009SI33155acquistoNGrecoUNISOBUNISOB20110915070337.020150709084754.0AlfanoJohn Donne94127UNISOB00883nam a22002291i 450099100108965970753620030320200140.0021118s1960 uik|||||||||||||||||eng b12098395-39ule_instARCHE-018819ExLDip.to Filologia Ling. e Lett.itaA.t.i. Arché s.c.r.l. Pandora Sicilia s.r.l.Bentley, Eric<1916- >191977Bernard Shaw /[by] Eric BentleyLondon :Methuen,1960XVIII, 204 p. ;21 cmShaw, George Bernard (1856-1950).b1209839502-04-1401-04-03991001089659707536LE008 FL.M. (IN) F 30 [N.D.]1LE008IFM-5536/bisle008SMARRITO-E0.00-nm 00000.i1240027001-04-03Bernard Shaw139685UNISALENTOle00801-04-03ma -enguik0103520nam 22005895 450 991091718950332120241207115241.09783031669361(electronic bk.)978303166935410.1007/978-3-031-66936-1(MiAaPQ)EBC31821762(Au-PeEL)EBL31821762(CKB)36841108400041(DE-He213)978-3-031-66936-1(EXLCZ)993684110840004120241207d2024 u| 0engurcnu||||||||txtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierThe Evolutionary History of Witch-hunting A Qualitative Darwinian Approach /by Steije Hofhuis1st ed. 2024.Cham :Springer Nature Switzerland :Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan,2024.1 online resource (384 pages)Print version: Hofhuis, Steije The Evolutionary History of Witch-Hunting Cham : Palgrave Macmillan,c2025 9783031669354 1. Introduction -- 2. Foundations -- 3. Functions -- 4. The Theory -- 5. Witch-hunts -- 6. Explanations -- 7. Cases -- 8. Reflections -- 9. Conclusion.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. Steije Hofhuis is a historian and works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center, Germany.EuropeHistory1492-Intellectual lifeHistoryScienceHistoryCivilizationHistoryHistory of Early Modern EuropeIntellectual HistoryHistory of ScienceCultural HistoryEuropeHistory1492-.Intellectual lifeHistory.ScienceHistory.CivilizationHistory.History of Early Modern Europe.Intellectual History.History of Science.Cultural History.133.43094Hofhuis Steije1779615MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQ9910917189503321The Evolutionary History of Witch-Hunting4303190UNINA