ANTH V 1007x Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Anthropocentrism, Carl Linnaeus, Brain Size
14 Sep 2016
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Hominin: any species that is more closely related to us than chimpanzees, any species in the line postdating the break with chimpanzees. Darwin focused on connections in history and genealogy while linnaeus saw typological, chain-like connections. Linnaeus: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Horizontal exploration: travel away from europe, travel back in time. Vertical exploration: excavating into the ground, travel back in time. Genealogical exploration: travel back in time by examining biological differences and heritage. Methodology: distance in evolutionary and morphological space as time that has passed since the common ancestor. Darwin challenged religious beliefs and belief that humans are superior to nature. Being darwinian: puts human in place in natural world and in evolutionary time (we are just a stepping stone to whatever is coming next) Modern humans separated from chimpanzees 6-8 million years ago. Darwinian theory allows for the possibility of chimps ascending or human-like species going extinct. Fallacies of kinshipping: chimpanzees evolved into humans.
