Interdisciplinary Anthropology

Abstract

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.Cover photo: Michael K. Nichols/getty images Cover design: deblik, BerlinPrinted on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface This volume is the result of a research project entitled "Evolutionary Continuity -Human Specifics -The Possibility of Objective Knowledge" that was carried out by representatives of six academic disciplines (evolutionary biology, evolutionary anthropology, brain research, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and philosophy) over a period of three-and-a-half years starting July 1, 2006, and ending December 31, 2009. The starting point for the project was the newly emerging riddle of human uniqueness. Formerly, people believed it possible to determine which features distinguish humans from other animals. Rationality, i.e., the possession of mind, reason, language, logical thinking, etc., was thought to be the unique characteristic of human beings. This is precisely what the old definition of the human as animal rationale suggested: only human beings possess rationality and this sets them apart from all other creatures. But the results of scientific research fundamentally questioned this view in recent decades. With regard to the dimensions of rationality (possession of concepts, arithmetic, reasoning, etc.), it was found that they not only exist in us humans, but that at least early forms can be found in our close and distant relatives in the animal world. Not a single element of rationality is really exclusive to humans. For example, all mammals are capable of elementary categorizations; pigeons are experts in abstraction and generalization; chimpanzees and bonobos do not only understand causal relationships in the physical world but are also able to understand what their conspecifics think; finally, chimpanzees and orangutans are able to act on the basis of prior reasoning. Certainly, most of these skills are more perfectly developed in us than in our relatives. Yet, they are -and this precisely is the new insight -in no way exclusive to humans. Rather, our rationality constitutes an advancement of animal rationality.Alarmed by these results and in order to adhere to the exclusivity of humans, many attempts were made to come up with other human specifics. However, all of the alternatives turned out to be untenable in the light of recent research. The making and use of tools, for example, are common in the animal world; aesthetic judgment can already be observed in animals; the same applies to altruism, or to walking upright, of Kiel). Jointly, six areas of research were defined that addressed different aspects especially productive with regard to the overall question. The results of three-and-ahalf years of research are now presented in the six chapters of this...