In this article I explore the possibility of a dialogue between cultural studies and cognitive science by proposing a “cognitive” reading of Anna Laetitia Barbauld's 1781 book Hymns in Prose for Children. Literary critics have pointed out that the tacitly catechistic mode of Barbauld's Hymns implicates it in the eighteenth-century ideological project of socializing children, particularly those coming from working-class families, to their proper stations in life. I investigate possible cognitive underpinnings of one particular aspect of Barbauld's “catechist,”namely its reliance on a functional approach to human beings (i.e.,“children are made to praise God who made them”). I argue that, to get an integrated account of the rhetorical appeal and the ideological potential of such a functional approach, we should inquire into the ways it mobilizes the contingencies of our evolved cognitive architecture involved in our differentiation between natural kinds and artifacts.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
