Human Nature in Rural Tuscany: An Early Modern History (Italian and Italian American Studies)

Melding evolutionary theory and both animal and human ethology together with close, descriptive historical research on a typical Tuscan village in the seventeenth century, Hanlon explains the good reasons individuals had for behaving in ways that now seem strange to us. This fascinating study springs from the conviction that the building blocks of human life are universal: hierarchy and political participation; co-operation and competition, reproduction, invention, and adaptation. The author argues, however, that individual emotions, thought processes, and social predicaments are always set in specific times and places. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Measures and Values......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 The Community......Page 26 The Coppoli Fief......Page 39 Sociability......Page 54 Collaboration......Page 67 A Civil Arena......Page 84 Criminal Process......Page 91 The Gravity of Crimes......Page 97 Profiles in Crime......Page 108 Sexual Destinies......Page 118 Workable Families......Page 132 Passing On......Page 149 5 Invention......Page 154 Economic Collapse......Page 155 The Church Triumphant......Page 163 Making Tuscans......Page 180 Conclusion......Page 188 Notes......Page 190 C......Page 228 E......Page 229 M......Page 230 P......Page 231 T......Page 232 W......Page 233

Melding evolutionary theory and both animal and human ethology together with close, descriptive historical research on a typical Tuscan village in the seventeenth century, Hanlon explains the good reasons individuals had for behaving in ways that now seem strange to us. This fascinating study springs from the conviction that the building blocks of human life are universal: hierarchy and political participation; co-operation and competition, reproduction, invention, and adaptation. The author argues, however, that individual emotions, thought processes, and social predicaments are always set in specific times and places. 

The book springs from the conviction that the building blocks of human life are universal: hierarchy and political participation; cooperation and competition; reproduction, invention, and adaptation. However, individual emotions, thought processes, and social predicaments are always set in specific times and places. Together with historical research on a Tuscan village in the seventeenth century, the author melds evolutionary theory and animal and human ethology