The Narrative Mind: Biological, Cognitive, and Philosophical Foundations of Storytelling

Abstract

Storytelling is a universal cognitive behavior that has shaped human evolution, intelligence, cultural identity, and social organization. This paper investigates the biological architecture, psychological processes, philosophical foundations, and sociobiological functions of storytelling, integrating interdisciplinary research from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, evolutionary anthropology, and literary studies. The study explains how the human brain generates ideas, transforms them into structured narratives, and uses stories to form memory, emotional meaning, social cohesion, and mental simulations of reality. Key neural regions such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, parietal cortex, thalamus, amygdala, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area are examined to demonstrate how imagination, memory consolidation, language processing, emotional evaluation, and cognitive integration collectively facilitate storytelling. Philosophical perspectives from Plato, Aristotle, and Kant provide interpretive foundations for understanding idea-formation, imagination, and judgment, while psychological theories explain how stories function as mental models of experience. The literature further shows that storytelling has evolutionary advantages in transmitting knowledge, strengthening group identity, and enhancing theory of mind. The review highlights how literary narratives reveal the structure of human cognition and how stories form a bridge between philosophy of mind and philosophy of literature. The methodology employs a qualitative, conceptual synthesis of cross-disciplinary research. Overall, findings indicate that storytelling is not merely cultural but a core cognitive technology embedded in human neurobiology. It is both an expressive art and a functional system enabling humans to think, imagine, interpret, and construct meaning.

Keywords: Storytelling, Cognitive Neuroscience, Imagination, Philosophy of Mind, Narrative Psychology, Neural Plasticity, Sociobiology, Literature