On human self-domestication, psychiatry, and eugenics

Abstract

The hypothesis that anatomically modern homo sapiens could have undergone changes akin to those observed in domesticated animals has been contemplated in the biological sciences for at least 150 years. The idea had already plagued philosophers such as Rousseau, who considered the civilisation of man as going against human nature, and eventually "sparked over" to the medical sciences in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. At that time, human "self-domestication" appealed to psychiatry, because it served as a causal explanation for the alleged degeneration of the "erbgut" (genetic material) of entire populations and the presumed increase of mental disorders.

Evaluating the self‐domestication hypothesis of human evolution

“…In the early twentieth century, various self‐domestication hypotheses were proposed. In most cases, they pointed out similarities between domestication and culture or civilization . Even Franz Boas, who usually emphasized the potential environmental influences on these patterns, saw human variation in stature, increasing or decreasing pigmentation of the skin and curly hair as signs of “domestication.” Based on current knowledge, we can reject this idea.…”

“…One potential way to overcome this problem is to compare human evolution with domestication. Darwin already noticed how humans share some characteristics typical of domesticated animals such as increased fertility, and drew parallels between domestication and human evolution, although his statements on the subject were contradictory . Darwin ultimately concluded that the absence of any deliberate selection of traits (goal‐directedness)—so clearly practiced in animal husbandry—during human evolution spoke against a direct comparison with domestication.…”

New perspectives on evolutionary medicine: the relevance of microevolution for human health and disease

“…Thus, by applying the concept of nature's evolution to human morphology, physiology and pathophysiology, a better understanding of the etiology of present-day human ailments can be achieved. Early applications of poorly understood Darwinian concepts to human biology led to eugenic theories [7,8]. However, EM (as we strongly emphasize here) does not deal with eugenic approaches.…”

Şizofreniyle ilişkili kültürel etmenler

“…Kraepelin'in vurgusu dejenerasyon üzerinedir. Kraepelin psikiyatrik bozuklukların giderek artmasının nedeninin insanoğlunun kendini evcilleştirmesi (self domestikasyon) olduğunu belirtmektedir (Brüne 2007 (Neill 1990 (Lipset 1982). Bateson bu fikirden yola çıkarak çifte kıskaç (double bind) hipotezini ortaya atmıştır (Bateson ve ark.…”