Fabling Gestures in Expository Science

Abstract

Ranging from pre-Socratic philosophers to contemporary popular science writers, I analyze seven instances in which fable-like scenarios have been utilized in the exposition and/or promotion of philosophy and/or science. I examine the motives and strategies that propel such novel uses of fabling gestures and also explore the ironies and pitfalls that the genre poses when invoked in scientific discourse. For example, one pervasive assumption of the fable genre is that the animal characters are really humans; might this genre conceit subtly introduce a bias when a fable-like scenario of animal behavior, such as a crow confronting a pitcher, is examined by animal cognition specialists attempting to understand the relationship of human and nonhuman animal intelligence?