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Becoming Human
Book

Becoming Human

A Theory of Ontogeny

Belknap Press, 2019
First Edition: 2018 plus...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Scientific
  • Engaging

Recommendation

According to Charles Darwin, human beings evolved by natural selection – as did all other living things, including those with whom people share common ancestors. But unlike the great apes, humans live in a universe of cities, cars, computers, music, literature and nation-states. People have culture, which emerged as the expression of a psychology that enables a community and cooperation. These make culture and its transmission possible. Psychologist Michael Tomasello has produced a work that is dense, and which, at times, addresses disputes that will most interest specialists in evolutionary psychology. But his overview will engage anyone fascinated by how humans evolved from great apes into creatures that reach higher and higher levels of knowledge, technology and culture.

Take-Aways

  • “Human culture” gave rise to a new dynamic in evolution.
  • Human cognition distinguishes subjectivity and objectivity.
  • Common consciousness and points of view are pivotal for human community and communication.

About the Author

Michael Tomasello is an American developmental and comparative psychologist and linguist. He is co-director of the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center and professor of psychology at Duke University, and co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.


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