Evolution and human uniqueness / Kim Sterelny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sterelny, Kim, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution.

Social evolution.

Cultural Evolution.

Medical Subjects:

Cultural Evolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

"This work presents a novel account of the emergence of distinctively human forager lifeways that emerged at the end of the Pleistocene, before the formation of large-scale societies. First, it sees the increasing divergence of the hominin lineage from great ape patterns as driven by positive feedback amongst a number of initially small differences rather than by a key innovation. Second, it identifies an environmental trigger of that initial divergence. Late Pliocene/early Pleistocene hominins had an opportunity to become scavengers, whereas chimp ancestors did not. Once in that niche, there was an incremental pathway to increasing investment in cooperation, social learning, and technology, pulling human ancestors away from great ape lifeways. Third, while the account shares with Michael Tomasello the view that the early expansion of cooperation was a form of immediate return mutualism (with cooperation being immediately and individually rewarding), analysis here shows how defended and confrontational scavenging lead to the suppression of dominance hierarchies, making many other forms of cooperation profitable and opening a pathway to the distinctive egalitarianism of forager cultures. Fourth, the account shares with others the view that cumulative social learning played a critical role in establishing human lifeways and offers an alternative account of factors making accumulation possible. On most accounts, cumulation depends on specific cognitive adaptations that make high-fidelity social learning possible. On the analysis here, it depended on an adapted learning environment with much informational redundancy, much collaboration, and hybrid learning combining both social and natural information"-- Oxford Academic

Contents:

Humans : not just another unique species

The challenge of the historical sciences

From rugged individualism to commitment to cooperation

The evolution of an informational commons

Making a living : scavenging, hunting, and the decline of dominance

Social scale : life in open worlds

Regulating social interactions : norms and their importance

The road to language

The house that Darwin built

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed September 17, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Sterelny, Kim Evolution and human uniqueness

ISBN:

9780197834879

0197834876

OCLC:

1602986077

Publisher Number:

CIPO000420658

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license