Monsterology

Regular Episode

November 15, 2021

239 – Monsterology

Guest: Stephen Asma
Hosted by Blake Smith

Notable Quotes

“It’s like the old blind men trying to identify an elephant by touching the different parts. You can’t really get a gestalt understanding unless you have these multidisciplinary approaches, and I’m getting to that for everything. It feels like you can’t truly understand anything from a single approach.”
– Blake Smith

“There’s a service to be done in looking at monsters—which you guys do—and it’s very important work because there’s tremendous gullibility in the culture, and claims need to be evaluated for truth…as monsterologists, I think it’s on us to try to figure out, why do dragons seem so pervasive? And are there sort of image schemas that cultures keep repeating over and over again? And why is that, are there evolutionary reasons for that?”
– Stephen Asma

“I’m not the first person to notice this, but I think once you notice it, you can’t help but see it everywhere you look. All of those ancient Greek monsters, and even before that, the Egyptian monsters, and even before that, the Babylonian monster, let’s say of Gilgamesh, these are all hybrids of some kind that you take two animals, and you mash them together in the imagination, and you have a creature that’s extremely activating or arousing for our cognitive attention.”
– Stephen Asma

Episode Summary

When we think about monsters, the number one reaction most people will have is fear. Why is that and where does it come from? How do our brains process the concept of monsters, our gut reactions to them, and about where we stand with all of that? In this episode of MonsterTalk, Blake sits down with author, professor, and artist, Stephen Asma to delve into how monsters evolved with us as humans culturally, how our imaginations play a role in it, and how our minds wrap themselves around our beliefs—among many other things.

Relevant Links

Stephen Asma
Website | Monsterology Channel

Some Published Works:
Monsters on the Brain: An Evolutionary Epistemology of Horror by Stephen Asma

Why Are So Many Monsters Hybrids? By Stephen Asma

The Evolution of Imagination

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition

Buddha for Beginners

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums

Following Form and Function: A Philosophical Archeology of Life Science (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

Other Relevant Link:
John Robbins (Illustrator) Obituary

In this Episode of MonsterTalk