The essay focuses on the problem of the origins and evolution of the symbolic mind and human complex behavior, which should be considered in their close intertwinement with the evolution of the first lithic technologies. Recent archeological and paleo-anthropological findings hint that complex behavior associated to technological abilities could have emerged before the birth of the genus Homo (e.g., the discovery of the Lomekwian technology, dated 3.3 Mya) and the symbolic behavior could have appeared in human species other than Homo sapiens (as showed by abstract patterns engraved on shells from Trinil, Java, dated 540 Kya and associated to H. erectus, or the ever-increasing number of signs of symbolic activity associated to Neanderthal). Such clues strongly challenge the idea that technological abilities are an exclusively human endowment and the belief that the so-called symbolic mind is a uniquely Homo sapiens’ feature. Furthermore, these evidences also show the need to rethink the emergence of human consciousness through a "tree thinking” approach that may reconfigure the origin of complex human behavior (or rather its multiple origins and trajectories) within the very broad and tangled phylogenetic “bush” of human evolution. This new emerging perspective requires an "extended" and “multilevel” epistemological approach, in which different factors contribute to reshape the entire issue: beyond the standard gradual adaptation processes, further evolutionary mechanisms are needed, such as exaptive factors, niche construction processes, cumulative culture and ratchet effect processes, gene-culture co-evolution, neotenic processes, demographic effects. In conclusion, the essay aims at showing, on the one hand, that biological and cultural evolution are two closely interwoven dimensions interacting at different levels and, on the other, how an epistemological extension and a conceptual renewal of the evolutionary research programme are today increasingly urgent and needed.

Narrare le origini del comportamento umano moderno : verso un approccio evoluzionistico esteso e multilivello / A. Parravicini (PERCORSI). - In: Evoluzione e adeguamento : biologia umana e creazione tecnologica : narrazioni interdisciplinari / [a cura di] V. Rasini. - Milano : Meltemi, 2018. - ISBN 9788883538377. - pp. 157-181 (( convegno Convegno tenutosi a Modena nel 2017.

Narrare le origini del comportamento umano moderno : verso un approccio evoluzionistico esteso e multilivello

A. Parravicini
2018

Abstract

The essay focuses on the problem of the origins and evolution of the symbolic mind and human complex behavior, which should be considered in their close intertwinement with the evolution of the first lithic technologies. Recent archeological and paleo-anthropological findings hint that complex behavior associated to technological abilities could have emerged before the birth of the genus Homo (e.g., the discovery of the Lomekwian technology, dated 3.3 Mya) and the symbolic behavior could have appeared in human species other than Homo sapiens (as showed by abstract patterns engraved on shells from Trinil, Java, dated 540 Kya and associated to H. erectus, or the ever-increasing number of signs of symbolic activity associated to Neanderthal). Such clues strongly challenge the idea that technological abilities are an exclusively human endowment and the belief that the so-called symbolic mind is a uniquely Homo sapiens’ feature. Furthermore, these evidences also show the need to rethink the emergence of human consciousness through a "tree thinking” approach that may reconfigure the origin of complex human behavior (or rather its multiple origins and trajectories) within the very broad and tangled phylogenetic “bush” of human evolution. This new emerging perspective requires an "extended" and “multilevel” epistemological approach, in which different factors contribute to reshape the entire issue: beyond the standard gradual adaptation processes, further evolutionary mechanisms are needed, such as exaptive factors, niche construction processes, cumulative culture and ratchet effect processes, gene-culture co-evolution, neotenic processes, demographic effects. In conclusion, the essay aims at showing, on the one hand, that biological and cultural evolution are two closely interwoven dimensions interacting at different levels and, on the other, how an epistemological extension and a conceptual renewal of the evolutionary research programme are today increasingly urgent and needed.
Settore M-FIL/01 - Filosofia Teoretica
Settore M-FIL/02 - Logica e Filosofia della Scienza
2018
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/679164
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