Abstract

This essay offers a brief introduction to the recent developments at the intersection of early modern literature and cognition. The section “Embodiment and Beyond” focuses on how this concept helps us shift the focus of comedia studies from discourse-based analysis to performative aspects and spectatorship. “Theory of Mind and Development” explores the interplay of minds in literature in connection to the cultural and socio-political context of early modern Spain. “Empathy, Ethics, and Multiculturalism” delves into a group of studies that shed light on the strategies that some early modern Spanish authors employed to elicit emotional responses from readers and spectators of this era. Finally, “Mind Science and Culture” examines the interrelation of literary texts and the ideas about the mind that circulated at the time, highlighting the permeability among different discourses and discussing the relation between contemporaneous and contemporary sciences.