Concepts of History 1 Seating for class P1 T Th Front of Room Lawler P110 W 12 P101 M 9 P107 Tu 9 P102 W 9 P104 W 11 P108 Th 9 P103 F 9 P105 M 11 P109 M 8 P106 F 11 McNamara Kelly McAndrew 2 Seating for P2 M W P 202 M 10 P 203 W 10 P 204 F 10 Lawrence Front of Room Lawler P201 T 2 P208 M 12 P205 M 8 P209 W 12 P206 W 8 P210 Th 12 P207 F 8 Donohue Houston 3 Question Who said this Tonight is not an accident There are no accidents We have not come here by chance I do not believe in chance when I see 3 objectives 3 captains 3 ships I do not see coincidence I see providence I see purpose I believe it is our fate to be here It is our destiny I believe this night holds for each and every one of us the very meaning of our lives What is the word for this 4 And Who said this Nothing happens by accident Hint it takes place on a desert planet after a certain Naboo spacecraft is forced to make an emergency landing because of a leaking hyperdrive 5 Evolution of human species 1 Apes with upright posture bipedalism adapt to plains at edge of forests spot anthills Frees forelimbs for other uses Large brain Intelligently Designed complexity by God Selected or genetically engineered by ET breeding program artificial selection Failsafe defense against heat stroke through natural selection one Darwinian type of explanation 6 Evolution of human species 2 Bipedalism liberates forelimbs allowing for other uses That is not the purpose of bipedalism but its effect one of its consequences Arms hands adapt to tool use clean sticks permit the drawing out of ants Frees jaws for other uses Mouth larynx adapt to speech Permits communication group cooperation survival advantage of this v individualism 7 Evolution of human species 3 Two levels of evolution Biological organism previous slides Evolution of tools outside the body 8 Evolution of non biological components of the human being Evolution of material tools Simple to complex as in 2001 A Space Odyssey Paleolithic Neolithic Evolution of mental tools transmitted through language songs writing etc Culture is elaborated Evolution of group social relations 9 What makes humans human 10 11 Naked Ape Clothes Robert Ardrey s The Naked Ape Same anatomy same biological species What explains the differences between peoples civilizations 12 Explaining the differences 1 Material Tools operating on nature Spears to computers Clothes included 2 Various social arrangements in which people relate to each other 3 Mental tools Education Culture of huntergatherer Eskimo and 21st c professor By which people communicate with each other And understand their relations to nature and to each other 13 Difference between animal and human Animal s biological tools Darwin produced by chance variation and natural selection Animal is born with its tools built in Human s non biological tools outside of the body produced by human beings themselves acting purposefully purposeful self creation teleology 14 When did human history begin 1 History of biological presuppositions of human being Changes in biology physiology Ardipithecus ramidus australopithecus afarensis to homo sapiens sapiens 2 History of non biological creations of human activity material social and spiritual tools When did 2 become more important than or replace 1 take off point of distinctly human society 15 Biology Tools 16 Homo sapiens Our species has not changed anatomically since the earliest known appearance of Homo sapiens in the archaeological record about 120 000 years ago The skeletons unearthed at the Klasies River mouth are no different from our own Spodek 21 17 Homo sapiens sapiens About 100 000 ago however a new creativity appeared in the cultural and social life of Homo sapiens perhaps the result of a modification in the internal structure of the brain The people who lived before this development are called archaic Homo sapiens those with the new cultural capabilities are considered a new subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens Human wise wise They are us Spodek 21 18 Evidence for Homo Sapiens Sapiens 1 Not physical anatomically the same as Homo Sapiens So why should there be a new species or subspecies 2 Evidence of cultural differences Unlike their predecessors Homo sapiens sapiens developed forms of symbolic expression apparently spiritual and cultural in nature including burial rituals and artwork that is sometimes stunningly beautiful and creative Spodek 21 19 Cause of cultural creativity 1 Biological evolutionary cause changes in brain structure is postulated in perhaps not proven by facts anatomy Biological brain changes new species cause changes in culture form of consciousness Causal scheme scientific mechanism 2 Success of group allows time for free creativity by homo sapiens individuals Thought uses brain creatively symbolic expression and interchange with each other Teleological explanation 20 Three theories of history Biological nature Environmental nurture Challenge and Creative Response freedom in context 21 Continued biological adaptations racial differences Adaptation to Tropical climates increased melanin eumelanin protects against harmful sun rays UV radiation But blocks vitamin D absorption However vitamin D is available in abundant vegetation also fish oil Adaptation to Colder climates Lack of such abundant vegetation Lower melanin allows for vitamin D absorption by skin rosy cheeks of Caucasian baby less danger of skin cancer from exposure to sunlight Secondary nature of such adaptations compared to differences in types of tools and patterns of cultural interchanges 22 Human history is extra biological Social Darwinism Hitler s racial theory of history superiority of Aryan race explains Europe s esp Germany s ascendency in the world Do racial biological factors explain difference between India and China We will see that non biological explanations based on challenge and creative response can account for the basic differences Course hypothesis no need to invoke biological differences to explain main differences between civilizations No mention of biological causes in Spodek s text after first chapter 23 Two kinds of non biological approaches Externalist explain differences between early societies as result of geographical conditions different behaviors are learned not innate This is still a mechanistic explanation Inner creative response to external challenges E g the difference between India and China as creative responses to different conditions Incorporates teleology purposeful choice 24 Freedom