Humans in the Making

Michel J.F. Dubois was Director of Agriculture at the Institut polytechnique UniLaSalle, France, until 2016. He now conducts research as part of the InterACT team at the Institut polytechnique UniLaSalle in sustainable development and innovation in agriculture. He is an agronomist engineer and holds a PhD in biology, as well as a PhD and a habilitation in philosophy.

• Introduction ixPart 1. Phylogenetics of the Emergence of Humans 1Chapter 1. The Long and Slow Emergence of Humans 31.1. The difficulty of thinking about the beginning of the human being 31.2. The current challenge of human construction 7Chapter 2. Technique and Becoming Human 92.1. A general definition of technique 92.2. Awareness and use of techniques 132.3. Technical posture in human phylogenesis 14Chapter 3. Ethology: Technique and the Frog 173.1. The Goliath frog: a technician frog 173.2. Causes for the Goliath frog’s gigantic size 18Chapter 4. Neoteny: From Concept to Grand Narrative 194.1. Sources of the concept of neoteny in biology 194.2. Applying the concept of neoteny to the human being 204.3. Appropriation of the concept of neo-neoteny by the humanities 224.4. Neotenization: a “grand narrative” of the emergence of the human being 24Chapter 5. Issues of Neoteny and Technique 275.1. A very old conception of human “disabilities” 275.2. The equipped human and neotenic human: two unrelated concepts 285.3. The philosophy of technique: a recent discipline 30Chapter 6. Neoteny and Fetal Consciousness 336.1. Humans before birth 336.2. Humanity of the baby at birth 356.3. Ancient protection of the human baby at birth 36Chapter 7. Inversion of the Analysis: The Lamarckian Bias 397.1. The ambiguous concept of adaptation 397.2. The uselessness of adaptation with the concept of natural selection 417.3. The use of a tool: a selective system 437.4. From tool-based technique to body-based technique 447.5. New evolutionary narratives 46Chapter 8. Animal Behavior: Hermit Crabs and Their Shells 518.1. The hermit crab: a strange crustacean 518.2. The hermit crab: an oblivious technician? 52Chapter 9. Prejudice About the Priority of Values 559.1. The human sense of morality: an exception? 559.2. Prioritizing cognitive ability in human characteristics 569.3. Role of technique in the emergence of language 58Chapter 10. The First Phase of the Hominization Process 6110.1. The conditions of access to humans through technique 6110.2. Verticality as the first pre-human technical experience 6610.3. The consequences of verticality 78Chapter 11. Towards the Verticalization of the Genus Homo 8311.1. Aging of technical achievements 8311.2. Phylogenesis of characteristics and lineages 8811.3. From Australopithecus to the genus Homo: the selection of technicality 94Chapter 12. Technical Evolution and Neoteny of the Genus Homo 10112.1. Homo habilis: a new bushy development? 10112.2. Homo erectus, the advent of a technical humanity 10612.3. Homo sapiens, the advent of inner life and the imaginary 113Part 2. Technique and Human Ontology 127Chapter 13. Technique as the Foundation of the Human Being 12913.1. A look back at stone-knapping: the contribution of neuroscience 12913.2. Explaining humans through technique: a conceptual error 13213.3. Mental exaptation as a norm of human development 13613.4. The relationship between bodily technique and tool technique 13913.5. Variability of technical capabilities 145Chapter 14. The Domestication of the Wolf: A Decisive Advantage? 14914.1. The oldest domestication 14914.2. The co-evolution of humans and dogs 15014.3. The strength of the association between humans and dogs 154Chapter 15. Reforming Our Thinking About Humans? 15715.1. The human characteristic: a search without a future? 15715.2. The major innovation in body techniques 15915.3. Technique and the game: a fundamental intertwining factor 16315.4. New accounts of the emergence of culture 16515.5. The influence of techniques on evolutionary processes 16915.6. The relationship between technical behavior and biological evolution 17415.7. The selection of neoteny 18015.8. Towards the human being: convergences and co-evolutions 18715.9. Homo sapiens, a convergence of multiple capacities 19115.10. The ultimate technical step towards the human: mental technique 19615.11. The technical inscription of the mind 20415.12. The construction of thought 205Chapter 16. Emergence, Then Global Expansion 20716.1. Rapid global development 20716.2. Great linguistic diversification 20816.3. Co-evolution of cultures, languages and techniques 20816.4. The anthropization of the planet 209Chapter 17. The Myth of the Golden Age 21117.1. The Golden Age in ancient myths 21117.2. The Golden Age of modern thinkers 21317.3. Believing in a golden age: a cognitive bias? 214Conclusion 217References 225Index 243