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You’re right and wrong here. Humans are cultural creatures to the point where humans not exposed to some sort of cultural milieu simply don’t develop correctly.
by aalleavitch 8y ago
You’re right and wrong here. Humans are cultural creatures to the point where humans not exposed to some sort of cultural milieu simply don’t develop correctly. Walking erect didn’t free us from our vicious primate past: but culture absolutely can. You’re right in that many of our more basic instincts and psychology are a direct continuation of those evident in our evolutionary relatives, and even many of our cultural structures echo that. But we are no more bound by our instincts to be violent and selfish than we are bound by our physiology to be incapable of flight. Of course, exactly like chimpanzees, we could never fly by flapping our arms, but unlike chimpanzees we can figure out how to build and operate an airplane. Likewise, no matter how saddled we may be with primate psychology, we are capable of structuring our society to overcome that.
- anticensor 8y agoIt's not walking, it's the realization of why we reproduce and why we die that makes us humans. Most animals are unaware of their own death and will just hunt more for more food in the short term, not knowing they may be killed as they are too tired to return.
- mnem 8y agoI'm pretty sure most animals are aware of death in others, so it would seem likely that they may be aware of self mortality. Our general understanding of other animal behaviours is still quite primitive - generally things considered unique to the human animal are discovered in others after someone bothers to look. As for reproduction - do humans really know why they reproduce?
- anticensor 8y agoBirth control would not emerge if we were unaware of why we reproduce.