This book presents a series of perspectives showing the current knowledge about human evolution. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Darwin's book, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he explicitly addresses the natural origin of the human species, this collective work reviews current and diverse aspects of human evolution: from psychology, linguistics, genomics, paleontology, artistic expression or sexual selection. It also offers a historical, social and ideological context of what is often considered to be Darwin's second great work after The Origin of Species.
Although current research is concentrated largely on fossils and genomes, this book also deals with the main points Darwin centered his attention on; comparative morphology and psychology, and sexual selection. It also covers other new aspects, such as the origin of art, social structure and social learning.
With contributions from leading experts in their respective fields, the book guides readers to the study of the social context of Darwin and his time, and the state of the art of studies on human evolution and sexual selection, considering all aspects that Darwin examined, including those that emerged later and now are important disciplines in our understanding of our own evolution.
The English translation of parts of this book from its Spanish original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
Author(s): Jaume Bertranpetit, Juli Peretó
Series: Evolutionary Studies
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 216
City: Singapore
Preface
Contents
Chapter 1: Light Would Be Thrown: Human Evolution 150 Years After Darwin
1.1 Victorian in Form and Substance
1.2 Evolution Without Fossils
1.3 A Well-Connected Author
1.4 The Use of the Image (or Not) in Darwin´s Work
1.5 Human Evolution Partially Enlightened
1.6 Translations of Descent into Spanish and Catalan
References
Chapter 2: The Historical Background to Darwin´s Descent of Man
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Descent of Man
2.3 Sexual Selection and Society
2.4 Descent in Victorian Context
2.5 Aftermath
References
Chapter 3: Ways of Seeing the World: Darwin and the First Victorian Generation
References
Chapter 4: The Problem of Design in the Darwinian Proposal: A Historical Overview
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Design Argument
4.3 The Danger of Projecting Our Obsessions
4.4 Is It Really Over with Finalism?
4.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Darwin Under Suspicion: The Representation of Darwinism in the Newspaper ABC (1909-1982)
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Contextualization: A Brief History of Darwinism in Spain
5.3 Darwin in the ABC: 1909-1982
5.4 Conclusions
References
Primary Bibliography
Chapter 6: The Descent of Man: Darwin and Psychology
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Origin: From Species to Man
6.3 Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution and Its Impact on the Beginnings of Psychology
6.4 The Theory of Evolution and the Psychological Disciplines
6.5 Evolutionary Psychology: A New Theoretical Approach
6.6 Darwin and Twenty-First Century Psychology
References
Chapter 7: Human Evolution: The Linguistic Evidence
7.1 Phylogeny
7.2 Ontogeny
7.3 Glossogeny
References
Chapter 8: Human Evolution in Eurasia: The Fossils that Darwin Did Not Know
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Revisiting ``Out of Africa 1´´
8.2.1 ``Out of Asia´´ and the Settlement of Europe
8.3 Revisiting ``Out of Africa 2´´
8.4 Final Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Human Evolution: The Genomic Evidence
9.1 The Family Tree of Humankind
9.2 The Tangled Bank of Human Evolution
9.3 The Faceless Human
9.4 Ghosts of the Past
9.5 Answers on Human Evolution Inscribed in the Genome
9.5.1 The African Origin of the Human Species
9.5.2 The Forgotten Diaspora: The Origins of the Roma People
9.5.3 Europe´s Prehistory Reconstructed from Ancient DNA
References
Chapter 10: The Adaptations That Made Us Human: Morphology
10.1 Introduction
10.1.1 The Concept of Adaptation
10.1.2 The Relationship Between Form and Function
10.1.3 Paleobiology
10.2 The Human Primates
10.2.1 Separating the Wheat From the Chaff
10.2.2 Humans´ Closest Relatives
10.2.3 The Last Common Ancestor of Chimpanzees and Humans
10.3 Main Adaptations of the Human Lineage
10.3.1 Locomotion
10.3.2 Manipulation
10.3.3 Cognition and Life History
10.3.4 Diet
10.3.5 Sociosexual Behavior
10.4 Discussion and Conclusions
References
Chapter 11: The Adaptations That Have Made Us Human: The Genome
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Cross-Species Comparisons
11.3 Tests Based on Intraspecific Variation
11.3.1 Tests Based on Frequency Spectrum
11.3.2 Tests Based on Population Differentiation
11.3.3 Tests Based on Unusual Haplotype Extension or Linkage Disequilibrium
11.4 Verifying the Statistical Significance
11.5 Beyond the Classic Selective Sweep
11.6 Limitations and Future of Selection Studies
References
Chapter 12: How Do We Humans Evolve?
12.1 Introduction
12.2 A Theoretical Approach to a Central Hypothesis on Humanization
12.2.1 Production
12.2.2 Communication
12.2.3 Socialization
12.3 Conclusion
References
Chapter 13: Art as a Human Element
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Darwin, Evolutionism, and the Origins of Prehistoric Art Research
13.3 Current Debates
References
Chapter 14: Sexual Selection: Following Darwin´s Legacy
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Pre-copulatory Mechanisms: Darwin´s Jigsaw Puzzle
14.2.1 Intrasexual Competition: Fighting for Mates
14.2.2 Intersexual Competition: Mate Choice
14.3 Post-copula Mechanisms: The Invisible Competition
14.3.1 Sperm Competition: Fighting for Fertilization
14.3.2 Cryptic Female Choice
14.4 Sex Roles and the Evolutionary Battle of the Sexes
14.5 The Importance of Sexual Selection in Evolution
14.6 Conclusions
References
Chapter 15: Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Mate Choice
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Mate-Choice Copying: Empirical Evidence
15.3 Mate-Choice Copying: Theoretical Approaches
15.4 Mate-Choice Copying and Speciation
15.5 Mate-Choice Copying in Humans
15.6 Mate-Choice Copying: Asocial or Social Learning Mechanism?
15.7 Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 16: How Past Shapes Future: The Biological Future of Humankind
16.1 Background: If There Has Been a Past, There Will Be a Future
16.2 Knowing the Past to Predict the Future?
16.3 The Mechanisms of Evolution
16.3.1 The Mutation
16.3.2 Genetic Drift
16.3.3 Migration
16.3.4 Selective Mating
16.3.5 Natural Selection
16.4 The Biological Effects of Human Culture
16.5 Natural Selection Today
16.5.1 Purifying Selection
16.5.2 Positive Selection
16.5.3 Sexual Selection in Humans
16.6 Action of Genome Editing and Transhumanism
16.7 What, Then, Is the Genetic and Evolutionary Future of Humankind?
References
