273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory

<p>Humanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only do we come to the subject with certain inevitable preconceptions, but it's hard to resist the temptation to find scientific justifications for the stories we'd like to tell about ourselves. In his new book, <a href="https://www.stefanos-geroulanos.com/#/prehistory/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Invention of Prehistory</em></a>, Stefanos Geroulanos looks at the ways that we have used -- and continue to use -- supposedly-scientific tales of prehistoric humanity to bolster whatever cultural, social, and political purposes we have at the moment.</p> <p>Blog post with transcript: <a href="https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/22/273-stefanos-geroulanos-on-the-invention-of-prehistory/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/22/273-stefanos-geroulanos-on-the-invention-of-prehistory/</a></p> <p>S<em>upport Mindscape on </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>Stefanos Geroulanos received his Ph.D. in humanities from Johns Hopkins. He is currently director of the <a href="https://as.nyu.edu/remarque.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Remarque Institute</a> and a professor of history at New York University. He is the author and editor of a number of books on European intellectual history. He serves as a Co-Executive Editor of the <em>Journal of the History of Ideas</em>.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.stefanos-geroulanos.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web site</a></li> <li><a href="https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/stefanos-geroulanos.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NYU web page</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B003D1PMYW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=v23KE_4AAAAJ&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google scholar publications</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p>