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Chapter I: The Philosophical Question of the Origin and Development of Human Nature

Introduction

Chapter 1 introduces the thesis that a philosophical approach is necessary to understand the origin and development of human nature. Dewart argues that the specifically human mode of life, characterized by consciousness and selfhood, cannot be explained solely through the natural selection of genes. Speech plays the central role in generating consciousness. A new evolutionary mechanism, based on the interaction between experience and speech, is needed to account for the emergence and development of human nature.

The chapter explores the need for a new philosophical theory of human evolution.

Existing scientific explanations are inadequate because they reduce human life to its biological causes.

Emphasis is placed on the importance of understanding the unique qualities of human nature before attempting to explain its origins.

Critique of Existing Theories

Philosophical Theories: Rely on unproven evolutionary forces, incompatible with natural selection.

Biological Theories: Focus on genetic selection, neglecting the unique aspects of human consciousness, selfhood, and culture.

Reductionism: The tendency to explain complex phenomena solely in terms of their simpler components.

Traditional biological theories, while successful in explaining the evolution of the human organism, fail to account for the emergence of the specifically human mode of life, characterized by consciousness and selfhood. Dewart contends that reducing human life to its biochemical processes, as many biologists do, overlooks the qualitative differences between human and animal life. While acknowledging the role of natural selection in shaping the human organism, he emphasizes the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding the unique aspects of human nature.

Dewart also critiques the reductionist concept of causality inherited by science from Scholasticism, which assumes that effects are “nothing but” their causes. He advocates for a phenomenological approach, prioritizing the immediate experience of reality as the starting point for investigation. This means recognizing the irreducibility of consciousness to its underlying biochemical processes, even though it is caused by them.

The Need for a Phenomenological Approach

Phenomenology: A method that prioritizes the nature of conscious experience as the starting point for understanding reality emphasizing the importance of carefully observing and describing human consciousness and selfhood.

Dewart differentiates between two different approaches to the study of consciousness. The ontological (ontic) approach seeks to understand objects “in themselves”, or “objectively” and as if they were not being observed, and contrasts it with the phenomenological approach, which acknowledges the presence of the observer and the influence of self-presence on experience. He argues that while the ontological approach has been successful in many areas of science, it is inadequate for studying human nature because it neglects the crucial role of consciousness in shaping our understanding of reality.

The Hypothesis: Consciousness is Generated by Speech

Dewart proposes that the ability to speak is what enables humans to develop conscious experience.

This hypothesis suggests that speech has a reproductive function, transmitting the potential for consciousness across generations.

Speech plays the principal role in generating consciousness, and that learning to communicate experience in the specifically human way, through assertive communication, transforms the innate ability to experience into the acquired ability to experience consciously. This implies that the acquisition of speech by the human species marked the origin of its capacity for conscious life. Dewart’s hypothesis challenges the traditional view that consciousness precedes language and suggests a more dynamic relationship between language, experience, and consciousness.

Outline of the Proposed Theory

Emergence of Speech: Natural selection led to the development of speech from animal communication.

Generation of Consciousness: Speech, in turn, generated consciousness, leading to a new form of adjustment to the world.

Human Evolution: The interaction between conscious experience and speech drives the ongoing evolution of human nature, including culture and society.

Implications of the Theory

The theory aims to explain both the positive and negative aspects of human nature, including both creative and self-destructive tendencies.

Dewart seeks to reconstruct the prehistoric development of speech and consciousness by analyzing their present-day manifestations.

The emergence of speech introduces a new form of human reproduction, distinct from the sexual reproduction of the human organism. The socio-cultural transmission of the ability to speak constitutes the inheritance mechanism for conscious life, as it endows each new generation with the potential for conscious experience. This new form of reproduction, coupled with the specifically human form of adjustment based on consciousness and selfhood, leads to a new evolutionary mechanism that is not reducible to the natural selection of genes. The new evolutionary mechanism highlights the importance of cultural transmission in shaping human nature and distinguishes it from the purely biological evolution of other species.

Conclusion

The chapter stresses the importance of thoroughly understanding human nature before attempting to explain its origins.

It sets the stage for a detailed exploration of consciousness and speech in the following chapters.

A careful analysis of the present state of human nature can reveal the conditions under which it could have emerged from its infrahuman origins. Examining the defining characteristics of consciousness, selfhood, and speech, enables one to trace back the evolutionary pathway that led to their development thus emphasizing the importance of a thorough understanding of the present state of human nature as the foundation for reconstructing its evolutionary history.

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`Chapter II`⁠
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