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35 S. Ill. U. L.J. 269 (2010-2011)
Patternicity and Persuasion: Evolutionary Biology as a Bridge between Economic and Narrative Analysis in the Law

handle is hein.journals/siulj35 and id is 277 raw text is: PATTERNICITY AND PERSUASION: EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN ECONOMIC AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS IN THE LAW James D. Ridgway* We are not Homo sapiens, Wise Man . . . . We are Pan narrans, the storytelling ape.' A defining characteristic of humanity is our pervasive use of tools to solve problems. Legal theory is an endeavor with its own toolbox: methods of construction and deconstruction that are applied to a huge spectrum of problems. In recent years, economics has been one of the law's dominant analytical tools, and evolutionary biology has rapidly increased in its usage.2 Narrative theory-the study of storytelling and how it influences the decision-making process3_is far less discussed as a tool of legal analysis, but has its own adherents. Although these tools are clearly useful, their foundations and persuasive power have not been fully explored. As demonstrated by this article, evolutionary biology can now explain how human beings instinctively approach legal analysis and what features from economic and narrative analysis are rooted in the information processing functions of the brain. As a result, the most effective aspects of each can be synthesized into a new tool: analysis of the archetypal interactions that can be used to dissect any legal problem. On the surface, these tools may appear to be distinct. Yet, the connections between economics, narrative theory, and evolution run deep. Charles Darwin was aware of the power of narratives, and historians agree * Professorial Lecturer in Law, the George Washington University School of Law. This paper was presented at the Twelfth Society for Evolutionary Analysis in Law Scholarship Conference at the Loyola Law School-Los Angeles in February 2011. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Owen D. Jones for his feedback and encouragement. 1. TERRY PRATCHETT, IAN STEWART & JACK COHEN, THE SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD 11: THE GLOBE 325 (2002). 2. See, e.g., John Monahan, Could Law and Evolution Be the Next Law and Economics?, 8 VA. J. SOC. POL'Y & L. 123 (2000). 3. One classic account of narrative theory describes the narrative paradigm of human reasoning as one in which people make decisions based upon the coherence of the competing stories, and places it in opposition to the rational world paradigm, which treats people as making decisions based upon rational analysis. WALTER R. FISHER, HUMAN COMMUNICATION AS NARRATION: TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF REASON, VALUE AND ACTION 57-78 (1987). 269

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