Although we (or at some of us) may be so insufferably vain as to believe we are prettier than the average gorilla (though I’m sure gorillas would dispute this), our differences go beyond surface appearances. Perhaps the most dramatic evolutionary changes have been in the organization of our brain. So we’ll look at some of what neurosciences have revealed about how our brain works. How have these evolutionary changes opened the way to language, and to culture? Read: Goldschmidt, Chapters 3 and 6 Tomasello, Human Adaptation for Culture” “The For April 24, Commentary on what makes humans human Page on opening thoughts/questions/discussion points on human pro-sociality Weeks 12-14: Human Hyper-Sociality What ain’t true #9: Individualism” “Rugged The cowboy ethos of individualism” promotes toughness, macho self-interest, “rugged indifference to others’ suffering, violent to conflict, violence as “solutions” entertainment, unfairness, and the current notion of some in power that is “greed good.” But none of this is justifiable by claiming it is just nature.” “human So let’s start by looking at violence, sex, and grannies. Read: Fuentes, Not All Sex and Violence” “It’s Nell, Rewards,” (summary in Fuentes 102) “Cruelty’s Hawkes et. al. (summarized in Fuentes 119) “Grandmothering………” But then we may ask the question raised by the twentieth century philosopher Tina Turner: love got to do with it?” “what’s Nurturance and hunger” “affect Read: Goldschmidt, Chapters 4 and 5 Fairness and Cooperation One of the most important contributions to modern evolutionary theory comes from the work of Sloan Wilson. Professor Wilson shows that the common interpretation of of the fittest” has resulted in an almost exclusive “survival preoccupation with competition. His work has been tremendously influential in redirecting research on evolution toward the realization that cooperation has a powerful impact in evolution. Read:
Although we (or at some of us) may be so insufferably vain as to believe we are prettier than the average gorilla (though I’m sure gorillas would dispute this), our differences go beyond surface appearances. Perhaps the most dramatic evolutionary changes have been in the organization of our brain. So we’ll look at some of what neurosciences have revealed about how our brain works. How have these evolutionary changes opened the way to language, and to culture? Read: Goldschmidt, Chapters 3 and 6 Tomasello, “The Human Adaptation for Culture” For April 24, Commentary on what makes humans human Page on opening thoughts/questions/discussion points on human pro-sociality Weeks 12-14: Human Hyper-Sociality What ain’t true #9: “Rugged Individualism” The cowboy ethos of “rugged individualism” promotes toughness, macho self-interest, indifference to others’ suffering, violent “solutions” to conflict, violence as entertainment, unfairness, and the current notion of some in power that “greed is good.” But none of this is justifiable by claiming it is just “human nature.” So let’s start by looking at violence, sex, and grannies. Read: Fuentes, “It’s Not All Sex and Violence” Nell, “Cruelty’s Rewards,” (summary in Fuentes 102) Hawkes et. al. “Grandmothering………” (summarized in Fuentes 119) But then we may ask the question raised by the twentieth century philosopher Tina Turner: “what’s love got to do with it?” Nurturance and “affect hunger” Read: Goldschmidt, Chapters 4 and 5 Fairness and Cooperation One of the most important contributions to modern evolutionary theory comes from the work of Sloan Wilson. Professor Wilson shows that the common interpretation of “survival of the fittest” has resulted in an almost exclusive preoccupation with competition. His work has been tremendously influential in redirecting research on evolution toward the realization that cooperation has a powerful impact in evolution. Read:
sp-12-anth-351-anthropology-and-human-nature-lalon.docx