Primate Studies

Different biological theorists have answered questions raised about human behavior and human evolution according to their view of human evolution and of how that is reflected in human culture. Much of what they have to say begins with a consideration of the past, of how humankind has evolved to date and of what we know about the origins of human culture. In recent years, there has been more attention given to these questions. In the 1960s, a number of ethnologists analyzed our biological thinking about humankind and human social life, and Konrad Lorenz is cited in particular: "There was, we were told, a basic biological individual, man; he was compounded of the same sort of ingredients as other forms of life; drives, behavioral tendencies and so on" (Renolds 3). The mind was seen as essentially a rationalizing organ that gave meaning to what was otherwise

. . .
re, and one can say that Homo sapiens are mammals from the family of primates. That is unquestionably true" (Lorenz 163-164). But, he cautions, "to say that man is only a mammal from the family of primates is blasphemy. Homo sapiens are that which is peculiar to them, something different from mammals, something much more clever, namely, man" (Lorenz 163-164). Other theorists of the time considered the human being more as an animal than as something not animal, with the one major distinction between the human and the animal being a larger brain and all that went with it. For Robert Ardrey, what went with it was not just reason but also what he called conscience, an essentially antirational power. Conscience is always harnessed to the maintenance and survival of the group and it thus is an act of conscience to prevent any harm from coming to members of one's own group and to hate and if need be to kill members of other groups. For Ardrey, the fact that the stage prior to Homo sapiens in human evolution was the first hunting primate on the plains of east and southern Africa was especially significant and contributed to his view of the human being as a predator, a killer: "From the idea that this, our immediate ancestor, may h
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Konrad Lorenz, Lorenz Morris, Robert Ardrey, Emory University, INTRODUCTION Primate, Ardrey Morris, PRIMATE STUDIES, Ardrey Lorenz, CONCLUSION Primate, Louisiana Iberia, primate studies, human evolution, view human, regional primate, human behavior, human communities, homo sapiens, ardrey lorenz, konrad lorenz, human animal, develop ideas primitive, ardrey lorenz morris, ideas primitive human,
Approximate Word count = 1644
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Primate Studies