Proof of the hypothesis of the origin of humans from animals. Their place in the system of living nature and appearance. The main approaches to the problem of man and his needs among thinkers of the 20th century: the theories of Darwin, Freud, anthroposociogenesis, the concept of "Russian cosmism".

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MoscowPsychologicalCsocialInstitute

ABSTRACT

In the discipline "Anthropology"

on the topic of:

"The place of man in the system of the animal world"

Student: Andrey Gorskikh

Specialty: Psychology

Group: 210dp-3

Student card number: 210-155

Teacher:Rybalov Leonid Borisovich

Moscow2010

Plan

1. Proof of the hypothesis of the origin of man from animals

3. The main approaches to the problem of man and his needs by thinkers of the 20th century.

3.1 Theory of Charles Darwin.

3.2 Theory of Sigmund Freud.

3.3 Theories of anthroposociogenesis.

3.4 The concept of "Russian cosmism".

3.5 The concept of "anthropic principle".

3.6 The concept of "humanistic psychoanalysis".

3.7 Conclusions.

4. List of used literature

1. Proof of the hypothesis of the origin of man from animals

The question of the origin of man has always worried humanity. In ancient times, some tribes considered themselves descendants of certain plants or animals: bear, falcon, fish, etc.

In the future, views about the divine origin of man spread. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks believed that God created man from clay. The idea of the creation of the first man - Adam - from clay is found in the Bible.

With the development of science, naturalists became convinced of the similarity of the structure of the body and individual organs of humans and animals. Even K. Linnaeus, who believed in the divine origin of man, was forced to admit: "Oh, how similar to us is the vile monkey beast." He placed man in the group of primates along with monkeys.

J.B. Lamarck proposed a hypothesis about the origin of man from ape-like ancestors who switched from climbing trees to walking upright. As a result, their body straightened, the foot changed. The need for communication led to the development of speech.

In 1871, Charles Darwin's work "The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection" was published. In it, he proves the kinship of man with great apes, using data from comparative anatomy, embryology, and paleontology. At the same time, Darwin rightly believed that not a single living ape can be considered a direct ancestor of man.

Similarities can be traced in the structure of humans and other vertebrates. Man belongs to mammals, as he has a diaphragm, mammary glands, differentiated teeth (incisors, canines and molars), auricles, his embryo develops in utero. Humans have the same organs and organ systems as other mammals: circulatory, respiratory, excretory, digestive, etc.

Rudiments and atavisms also testify to the kinship of man with animals. A person has over 90 rudimentary organs: tailbone, appendix, wisdom teeth, etc.

Among the atavisms are highly developed body hair, additional nipples, and a tail. These features were developed in the ancestors of man, but are occasionally found in modern people.

Similarities can be traced in the development of human and animal embryos. Human development begins with a single fertilized egg. Due to its division, new cells are formed, tissues and organs of the embryo are formed. At the stage of 1.5-3 months of intrauterine development, the caudal spine is developed in the human fetus, gill slits are laid. The brain of a month-old fetus resembles the brain of a fish, and a seven-month-old fetus resembles the brain of a monkey. In the fifth month of intrauterine development, the embryo has a hairline, which subsequently disappears. Thus, in many respects, the human embryo resembles the embryos of other vertebrates.

The behavior of man and higher animals is very similar. The similarity between humans and anthropoid apes is especially great.

They are characterized by the same conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. In monkeys, like in humans, one can observe anger, joy, developed facial expressions, and care for offspring. In chimpanzees, for example, as in humans, there are 4 blood types. Humans and monkeys suffer from diseases that do not affect other mammals, such as cholera, influenza, smallpox, tuberculosis. Chimpanzees walk on their hind limbs, they do not have a tail. genetic material human and chimpanzee is 99% identical.

Along with similarities, humans have certain differences from monkeys. What are they?

The figure shows the differences in the structure of the skeleton of humans and monkeys, which are associated with bipedalism.

In monkeys, the spine is arched, while in humans it has four bends, giving it an S-shape. A person has a wider pelvis, an arched foot that softens the concussion of the internal organs when walking, a wide chest.

A number of structural features of a person are associated with his labor activity and the development of thinking. In humans, the thumb on the hand is opposed to other fingers, so that the hand can perform a variety of actions.

The brain part of the skull in humans prevails over the front due to the large volume of the brain, reaching approximately 1200-1450 cm3 (in monkeys - 600 cm3).

All these facts indicate that man and great apes descended from a common ancestor and allow us to determine the place of man in the system organic world Man belongs to the type of chordates, the subtype of vertebrates, the class of mammals, the subclass of placentals, the order of primates, the suborder of narrow-nosed, the family of hominids, the group of higher narrow-nosed, the genus Homo, the species is reasonable.

Man appeared on Earth in the course of evolution. This is evidenced by the similarity of man with animals in structure, development, and behavior. At the same time, man differs from animals in a number of ways. These differences in humans are associated with upright posture, advanced thinking, labor activity

2. The place of man in the system of living nature and the origin of man

Man belongs to the animal kingdom, as he uses ready-made substances for nutrition, that is, heterotrophs. Its cells do not have cellulose membranes, there are no chloroplasts; that is, it consists of typical animal cells. The person is:

To the type of chordates, since the embryo has a chord, gill slits in the pharyngeal cavity, dorsal (dorsal) hollow neural tube and bilateral body symmetry.

To the subtype of vertebrates, since it develops a spinal column from the vertebrae, a heart on the ventral side of the body, two pairs of limbs.

To the class of mammals, since it is warm-blooded, the mammary glands are developed; due to the presence of hair on the surface of the body.

To the placental subclass: the development of the baby inside the mother's body, the nutrition of the fetus through the placenta.

From a biological point of view, a person is one of the species of mammals belonging to the order of primates, the suborder of narrow-nosed.

Ideas about the emergence of man from ape-like ancestors existed in ancient times. However, the main role in proving the animal origin of man was played by Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection. Ch. Darwin emphasized that modern great apes cannot be considered as human ancestors - they are, as it were, our cousins.

In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin proved that man is the last, highly organized link in the chain of development of living beings and has common ancestors with the great ape. Human evolution is driven by natural selection based on hereditary variability and social (public) factors. The theory of natural selection is as follows: food resources are limited on Earth and many organisms have an unlimited ability to reproduce. Due to hereditary variability (mutations and recombinations), organisms are heterogeneous and a struggle for existence arises between them (species and interspecies), and organisms also oppose environment(combating abiotic factors). The consequence of the struggle for existence is the natural selection of organisms that are most adapted to specific conditions. The role of social factors such as labor activity, social lifestyle, speech and thinking was also great. The social evolution of man has developed on the foundation of the biological revolution. emergence social form movement does not cancel the action of biological laws, but only changes them.

Over the past 30-40 years, anthropology has accumulated data that allow not only to answer many important questions related to the origin of man, but also to pose a number of new problems for Ramapithecus. In the foothills of the Himalayas, in India, Pakistan and Central Europe, the remains of a fossil large ape, the Ramapithecus, were found, which, in terms of the structure of the teeth, turned out to be an intermediate stage between the anthropoid ape and man. It was determined that the Ramapithecus lived about 8-14 million years ago. At this time, the earth became a little colder and savannahs began to appear in place of tropical forests. And it was at this time that the Ramapithecus “came out of the forest” and began to adapt to life in open spaces. Perhaps the reason for this ecological restructuring was the search for food, which became less in the jungle. In the open space, a physical restructuring of the monkey's body was required: the advantage was given to those individuals who could hold out longer on two legs - in a straightened position. In tall grass, this position of the body is undoubtedly more advantageous for looking out for food and enemies. And some Ramapithecus rose to their feet.

Ramapithecus was a fairly large group of species. In the period of 10-8 million years ago, some of them had to take the next step, starting to regularly use tools, which caused the emergence of a new bundle of forms of humanoid creatures - Australopithecus.

Australopithecus - relatively large, approximately 20-65 kg in weight, 100-150 cm tall, walked on short legs with a straightened body position. They have changed the proportions of the trunk and limbs, have received a powerful development of the muscles of the buttocks. Similarities with humans in Australopithecus are noted in the structure of the teeth and dental system: the fangs are small, the teeth are arranged in the form of a wide arc, like in humans. The mass of the brain was close to 450-550 gr. (The average brain mass of gorillas is 460 grams, but it should be noted that the body size of a gorilla is much larger).

Australopithecus - inhabitants of open spaces. The weak development of the canines is consistent with the assumption that the functions of attack and defense should have been transferred to free hands. Bones of small baboons with traces of strong splitting blows were found near the remains of Australopithecus. Such damage could be caused by large pebbles, or long bones hoofed animals. Sticks were also used as percussion instruments. Hunting for others like themselves was also widespread. Australopithecus, like humans, were mostly right-handed. And they were omnivores. Among some species of these creatures, the development of fire began, in any case, traces of a long-existing fire were found along with the remains of Promethean Australopithecus. Judging by the fossil finds, they lived in a period, apparently, from 8,000,000 to 750,000 years. There were several various kinds Australopithecus, varying in size and physique. The most likely candidate for the ancestors of the trunk of the genus Homo seems to be the less differentiated Afar Australopithecus, whose remains were found in Ethiopia, in layers of about 3.5 million years old. Some species of Australopithecus already existed together with the early forms of man and could be his victims. And some lived even later, for example, meganthropes East Asia who lived, apparently, even 300-400 years ago.

In general, Australopithecus in many ways were much closer to humans than modern great apes. They used primitive tools, they had free hands.

In 1959, bones of a postcranial skeleton were found in the Oldowai Gorge, along with the remains of one of the Australopithecus, and in 1960, in the same place, a skull of a creature, more close person than Australopithecus. Several dozen fragments of a similar shape were found here and elsewhere in Africa. This creature was called Homo habilis - a skilled man. The age of these finds is determined at 2 million years.

A skilled man. The brain mass of H. habilis was about 650 g. (up to 775), which is noticeably higher than that of Australopithecus. Unlike the great apes and like humans, the first toe was not laid aside. This shows that orthopedic rearrangements associated with bipedalism have been completely completed here. The terminal phalanges of the hand are as short and flat as those of a human being. Coarse pebble tools were found along with H. habilis. Some "hacks" - quartzite pebbles, touched up with retouching, are made of material brought from areas 70-80 km away. The significance of such finds is enormous, since labor activity is the boundary separating Man from the rest of nature. The discovery of H. habilis, the creator of the pebble culture, is the discovery of the first (or one of the first) species of Man on earth. Equally primitive tools were found recently in the Altai Mountains and in Yakutia, their age is up to 1 million 400 thousand years. A skilled man was widespread not only in Africa, but also in Asia.

Archanthropes. So, in one of the branches of the trunk of Australopithecus, the ability to produce tools of labor arose and developed, which was closely connected with further development upright posture and the brain. At the same time, probably, there was a wide development of fire. About 2 million years ago, H. habilis began to rapidly spread to Africa, the Mediterranean, and Asia. Settling and getting into new conditions of existence, they formed separate isolated forms. These forms lived from 2 million to 140 thousand years ago and were called archanthropes. Outwardly, they looked like modern man, although there was still a strong development of the superciliary ridge and the absence of a real chin protrusion. The mass of their brain (about 800-1000 g) significantly exceeded H. habilis and even exceeded the lower limits of the normally developed brain of modern man (the average brain mass of H. sapiens is about 1300 g). The average body height of the most ancient people was undoubtedly not the same, but it is believed that their average height was about 160 cm (for men) and about 150 cm for women. Perhaps there were also larger forms. These creatures were distinguished by well-developed tool activity, they could freely butcher killed animals, successfully hunted elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, deer, rodents and large birds. There were still cases of cannibalism. Berries, fruits and roots played a significant role in food. Ancient people lived mainly in caves, but were already able to build primitive shelters from large stones. Fire was used in places of permanent parking. The question of the extraction of fire is still not clear, most likely it was maintained for a long time once lit by lightning. The harsh life in many ways still resembled that of an animal; There was a high infant and youth mortality rate.

It was the archanthropes who crossed the Rubicon. Judging by the size of the brain, they should have had real speech (the rubicon for this is considered to be a mass close to 750-800 g; it is with such a mass of the brain that a child of a modern person masters speech) Speech was undoubtedly very primitive, but it was already speech, and not individual signals animals. Modeling of the speech apparatus showed that the archanthropes who lived in the caves of southern France about 450 thousand years ago were able to make sounds such as "Aah", "chen" or "reu" and had already mastered all the vowels. The emergence of speech, based on labor activity, should have given a powerful impetus to development in the same progressive direction - the separation of man from the world of organic nature. The evolution of the archanthropes was still guided by biological factors - tough natural selection associated with the intraspecific struggle for existence.

After a period of maximum prosperity 600-400 thousand years ago, these forms quickly disappeared, giving rise to a new group - paleoanthropes, or Neanderthals.

Neanderthals (paleoanthorps). In more than 400 places in Europe, Asia and Africa, the remains of creatures that lived from 250 to 40 thousand years ago were found. They were an intermediate link between the archanthropes and Homo sapiens both in body structure and in the development of culture. According to the place of the first find (the valley of the Neanderthal River), they were called Neanderthals. They had a low sloping forehead, a solid supraorbital ridge, a large face with widely spaced eyes, a weak development of the chin protrusion, large teeth, a short massive neck and small stature (155-165 cm). The proportions of the body were close to those of a person. The mass of the brain was about 1500 g, and the departments associated with logical thinking. The use of fire for cooking was widespread, as evidenced by the finds at the sites of burnt bones, not only of animals, but also of the Neanderthals themselves, which indicates cannibalism. The objects of hunting were usually large mammals. The tools of the Neanderthals were much more perfect than primitive processed pebbles. It was among the Neanderthals that the first rudiments of such a concept as society appeared. They survived in the struggle for existence thanks to the unification of the forces of individual individuals, which led 50-40 thousand years ago to the emergence of the species to which we belong. - Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens. But still, is there anything in common between Just an animal and an Animal named Man?

Every animal is endowed with innate instincts before birth, and man is no exception. Unconditioned reflexes are inherited from their parents and persist throughout life. The baby of any animal breathes, is able to swallow and unmistakably finds the mother's nipple (if we are talking about a mammal). Another factor that unites man and animal is the struggle for existence. But only in animals it mainly occurs with species different from themselves, and a person has to fight with his own kind. Both of them use all their possibilities and forces for this. Both of them have a choice of survival policy: either hide or bare their teeth, fangs, claws and show (or pretend) that you are stronger. Both man and animal are able to perceive information from the outside (visual, sound). But the organs of hearing and vision of man are imperfect in comparison with animals, many animals have organs that are more perfect in at least one respect. Also, animals are able to make sounds that we are not able to perceive, while other animals perceive them freely.

Talking about the differences is much easier - there are more of them. Man is one of the few animals that can walk upright. A person has a highly developed rational activity, and this is the reason for the relative lack of instinctive regulation to the surrounding world. Self-consciousness and reason have turned a person into an anomaly. Human the only being who may be bored, dissatisfied, or feel ostracized. Man is the only creature for whom his own existence can constitute a problem to be solved and which cannot be avoided. The fact that death is imminent cannot be canceled for a person. This, by the way, shows that the primitive but very necessary instinct of self-preservation has been replaced by awareness and somewhat dulled. It is in connection with this that suicide is not uncommon among people (among animals this phenomenon is extremely rare). Restlessness is the condition that awakens a person to reveal his powers. One of the most striking features of man is the great depth of passions and drives he demonstrates. Which, in other matters, are, as it were, an “evolved form” of instincts. Even with the full satisfaction of hunger, thirst, sexual desires, a person may remain unsatisfied. In contrast to animals, in humans, problems are not solved by this, but from this they begin. Man has innate religious needs that cannot be explained. And the responses to the human need for orientation and worship are very different in content and form (from totemism to Buddhism and other religious and philosophical communities). Religion is not always the object of worship, it is not rare that it is an object not originally intended for this (money, power, paintings, films). At their core, all people are "idealists" and strive for something other than physical satisfaction.

And so we saw the natural origin of man. We saw that earlier, many thousands of years ago, man was a part of nature equal to others. But in the process of evolution, step by step, man separated from it. Starting with the exit from the forest and a stick in his hands, a person has already reached atomic bombs but still hasn't stopped. Now a person is able to process and use virtually anything for his own purposes. Man imagines himself great, the king of nature, pointing at the same time to the creations of his own hands. Man created more and more perfect tools, first of labor, then of hunting, and then of killing others and his own kind.

For the first time, we realized that humanity is capable of destroying itself by analyzing the consequences of a possible nuclear conflict. The threat was gone and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the energy of the explosion of all thermonuclear charges is less than the energy generated by the power plants of the world in just a year. Every year, gigantic masses of matter move and transform, huge areas of the virgin land surface are disturbed, plant and animal species disappear, and the radioactive background increases. And now the man changed his mind and decided to at least save what was left. Protect anything from yourself. They say that the basic principle of nature is rationality and correctness. It really is. And this is exactly the only thing that Homo sapiens, an animal named Man, lacks so much. It is very difficult to talk about any prospects if a person does not acquire this necessary detail. Before it's too late.

3 . The main approaches to the problem of man and hisneeds of 20th century thinkers

3 .1 Theory of Charles Darwin

20th century in science and philosophy, it was often called the age of man: almost all philosophical schools and ideas revolved around explaining his nature and essence.

In the XX century. there was a discussion and understanding of the theory of Charles Darwin (1809-1882). According to Darwin, man arose as a result of the natural process of evolution of living nature. He has animal ancestors and, therefore, his needs were formed on the basis of the needs of animals. Even Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), figuratively speaking, overthrew man from the pedestal: it turned out that we do not live in the center of the world, on a “privileged” planet, but on one of the many planets revolving around the Sun, which also turns out to be one of many stars. According to Darwin, man was formed according to the same laws as other living beings. Shouldn't the explanation modern society build on these general biological laws, primarily on the law of natural selection? Such an approach to human nature was proposed by social Darwinism, which vulgarized Darwin's ideas.

Social Darwinism tried to reduce the patterns of development human society to the laws of biological evolution. Natural selection and the struggle for the survival of the fittest subjects were considered in this concept as the determining factors of social life. T. R. Malthus (1766-1834) is considered the forerunner of social Darwinism, and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) is considered the immediate founder.

Social Darwinists posed an important and difficult scientific problem - they tried to understand what role in human life play the mechanisms of biological evolution, explain the interaction of biological and social principles in society. However, their solution of this issue, as most scientists eventually admitted, turned out to be clearly erroneous. In society, struggle and selection really take place, but their mechanisms are very different from natural selection and the struggle for existence in living nature. Therefore, all events in the life of society (victory political party elections, the transition from a pre-industrial society to an industrial and post-industrial one) remain absolutely incomprehensible if one tries to explain them based not on social, but on biological, Darwinian laws. Darwin himself never tried to do this. The behavior of an individual also depends on his social, and not only biological needs. The extreme, most reactionary versions of social Darwinism approached racist and fascist ideology.

3 .2 Theory of Sigmund Freud

Another way to explain the nature of man and his needs was proposed by the great Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). According to the doctrine he created - psychoanalysis - purely biological instincts and needs are the basis of human behavior. First of all, this is sexual attraction - libido, hidden in the subconscious layers of the psyche. Society differs from nature in that already in antiquity, primitive people had social mechanisms that sharply reduced the ability to satisfy sexual needs. The latter were severely limited by all sorts of customs, traditions, norms of behavior, and with the advent of the state - by legal norms. As a result of the emergence social control sexual desires could not be satisfied as simply as possible in animals. The sexual energy of the libido was subjected to sublimation—that is, it was transferred into other forms of psychic energy. On the basis of the sublimation of libido, new, purely human groups of needs arose - in rational knowledge, religion, art, creative self-expression. From Freud's point of view, if society had not limited the satisfaction of sexual needs, had not subjected them to frustration, man would have remained in an animal state and could not create culture. It was the limitation of the satisfaction of sexual needs that led to the emergence of social, purely human needs.

Freud's teaching is a very bright and bold attempt to understand the world of human needs, practically the first scientific concept of human sexual behavior. Later, however, psychologists, sociologists, and philosophers for the most part came to the conclusion that he greatly exaggerated the importance of sexual drives. The correction of his concept was already begun by the closest students of Freud - the creators of non-Freudianism. The fact is that, contrary to the opinion of the Austrian psychiatrist, sexual desires, for all their significance, are not the only factor that determines human behavior. Sexual needs cannot even be recognized as urgent: many people (for example, monks) refuse to satisfy them and live safely to a ripe old age. At the same time, the refusal to satisfy at least the minimum level of essential needs (for food, drink, air, temperature) is completely incompatible with life.

According to modern scientists, social needs have arisen not only because of the regulation of sexual behavior. An even more significant role in the formation of society was played by urgent needs and the improvement of the labor process, which was by no means just an alternative to sex.

3 .3 Theory of anthroposociogenesis

In the science of the XX century. received wide confirmation of the concept of the formation of man and society in the process of development of labor activity - the labor theory of anthroposociogenesis. It was first proposed by F. Engels in the work "The role of labor in the process of turning a monkey into a man." Having singled out three main man-forming factors - labor, social organization (a collective way of life) and articulate speech - Engels actually traces the process of complication of human needs and abilities in the course of the development of labor and thinking. Biological and social mechanisms interact in the development of needs, and the latter turn out to be guiding, more weighty.

The evolution of man and his needs is a complex process that has both biological and social components. If the social is described in most detail in Marxism, then the biological is explained within the framework of the modern version of Darwinism - the synthetic theory of evolution.

Specialists in the synthetic theory of evolution consider the emergence of man as the completion of the main stages of biological evolution, a kind of exit of the living beyond its own limits and the formation of a new, social form of matter. This is the largest aramorphosis in the history of the living. The leading Soviet evolutionary biologist, academician I. I. Shmalgauzen (1884-1963), described the transition from the animal world to man as follows: “By aramorphosis, we mean an increase in organization associated with an expansion of the environment for the organism. One can imagine an infinite expansion of the environment, i.e., not only the settlement of the organism over the entire surface the globe where only life in general is possible, but also the use of all vital resources. Such an organism will occupy a very special position, since it will rise above all organisms, take possession of the entire environment and subordinate it to its needs. Such a higher stage of aramorphic development, therefore, introduces something fundamentally new - domination over the conditions of the environment. It goes without saying that only one species of organisms can (in a certain geological epoch) master the entire environment, since mastering the entire environment means domination over all other organisms. This last conceivable stage of evolution has now been reached by man. Thanks to his culture and social forms of labor, man manages to gradually master all the vital resources of the earth and even increase their production in accordance with his needs. The entire external environment is subordinate to man. On this higher biological basis, then the further development of man proceeded, determined by fundamentally different social factors ... ".

Darwinian and Marxist approaches to explaining human needs are combined here. Having reached the pinnacle of biological development, the species Homo sariens masters the process of labor and rises to a qualitatively new level of existence. Now he can use the entire outside world to satisfy his needs. A person not only consumes any substance of animate and inanimate nature he needs, but also artificially forms a completely new sphere of reality - the second nature, the world of artificial objects, tools of labor.

3 .4 Direction "Russian cosmism"

man animal darwin cosmism

From a slightly different angle, the scientific direction, called "Russian cosmism", approached the explanation of human nature. Scientists of various views united in this current, including such religious and mystical thinkers as N. F. Fedorov (1828-1903) and P. A. Florensky (1882-1943). We are interested, first of all, in the scientific approach to the problem of man, developed by two eminent representatives Russian cosmism - Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) and Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945).

K. E. Tsiolkovsky believed that different types of intelligent beings had already arisen in the Universe, and he predicted the path of evolution of mankind as a cosmic civilization for billions of years ahead. These ideas look quite fantastic in our time, since science does not have any empirical data confirming them. However, a number of thoughts of the great dreamer turned out to be much closer to reality and are directly related to today's acute problems of civilization. So, he believed that a person with his labor activity occupies a special place in the material world: “... the human mind is the strongest factor in the Universe, more powerful than the seas and oceans, the Sun and all kinds of cataclysms. There is nothing in the universe more powerful than the mind of a person or a similar being. The most famous aphorism of Tsiolkovsky contains a whole philosophical concept of the development of civilization: "The earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot live forever in the cradle." The scientist thus owns a great conjecture, the validity of which is confirmed more and more every day. The resources of any planet are limited - humanity felt this in the conditions of the ecological crisis. As the authors of the famous first report to the Club of Rome showed for the first time (the Club of Rome is an authoritative international organization of scientists who study the global problems of modern civilization and try to build models for its further development), already in the foreseeable future, the Earth will begin to experience a shortage of the most important natural resources. In the future, their exhaustion can lead to a reduction in industrial production and the gradual self-destruction of civilization. Under these conditions, Tsiolkovsky's conjecture is especially relevant: he suggested that the exit at some stage of development from the mother planet could be an objective law of the development of civilizations. Due to the depletion of the planet's resources, going into space may not become some kind of romantic hobby, but an urgent need of mankind, without the satisfaction of which it will not be able to exist from a certain moment. Civilization will be forced to either degrade and perish, or move on to a new, cosmic phase of its existence. Although the complete depletion of natural resources is not a matter of the next few years, it is necessary to prepare for this new phase of development today. The first step along this path was manned space flights and orbital stations.

It should be noted that the merits of Tsiolkovsky are not limited to the theoretical concept of the cosmization of mankind (although it is now becoming increasingly relevant). He owns a specific technical idea, without which the exit of civilization into space would be impossible. At the beginning of the XX century. it was completely incomprehensible how to build an aircraft that would allow a person to overcome the gravity of the earth and get into interplanetary space. The plane, helicopter and balloon could move only in the dense layers of the atmosphere. The jet engine also did not allow reaching the speed necessary for space flights. As a result of twenty years of work, K. E. Tsiolkovsky found a technical principle that made it possible to overcome the gravity of the Earth. It turned out to be a multi-stage rocket. A few decades after the scientist's death, the idea of a multi-stage rocket was successfully used by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev and Wernher von Braun to create the first spacecraft. In the middle of the XX century. mankind has really entered into new era- the era of space exploration, predicted shortly before by K. E. Tsiolkovsky. Space exploration gives rise to completely new needs of civilization and opens up new possibilities for their satisfaction.

VI Vernadsky was the founder of the doctrine of the biosphere ("sphere of life") and noosphere ("sphere of mind"). The biosphere is part earth's surface transformed by living organisms.

The concept of the biosphere expresses the unity of all living things and their environment. After the emergence of man, the biosphere begins to gradually turn into the noosphere - a part of nature that is controlled and transformed by the human mind. “The noosphere,” wrote V.I. Vernadsky, “is a new geological phenomenon on our planet. In it, for the first time, man becomes the largest geological force. He can and must rebuild the area of his life with his labor and thought, rebuild in a fundamental way in comparison with what was before. More and more creative possibilities open up before him. Other scientists called the part of nature transformed by human activity the technosphere, anthroposphere and second nature.

V. I. Vernadsky was the first to realize that the expansion of the noosphere in the industrial era, a deeper processing of the substance of nature in industry, put civilization in new conditions of existence. These conditions are not immediately and not fully understood by mankind. Formerly people were forced to correlate their needs with the needs of other people, which was regulated by morality, tradition and law. Now society has a need to correlate these needs with the possibilities and laws of the biosphere - otherwise it can degrade and worsen the conditions for human existence. Regulation of relations between society and nature within the framework of the noosphere itself becomes an important social need. Needs of this kind are called environmental needs. Due to the ill-conceived nature of large-scale impacts on nature, man has already created ecological disaster zones (such as the Sahel region in Africa or the Aral Sea region). Selfish personal and group interests, leading to the gradual destruction natural environment, come into conflict with the general needs of civilization in the harmonious development of the biosphere and noosphere. Society feels the need for conscious regulation, management of the needs for economic development and in saving the environment! of their habitat. It is necessary to create special mechanisms, methods and procedures to maintain a balance between these needs. IN last years an example of a large-scale international cooperation To achieve this goal, we can consider the development of the Kyoto Protocol on the regulation of harmful emissions into the atmosphere on a global scale. The problems of the development of civilization, realized by V. I. Vernadsky in the first half of the 20th century, are becoming more acute every year.

3 .5 The concept of "anthropic principle"

The concept of Russian cosmism is consonant with that which arose in the 70s. 20th century the idea of the connection between man and the universe, which was called the anthropic principle (from "anthropos" - man).

The anthropic principle was first formulated by the astronomer B. Carter. Its essence is as follows. Physicists and astronomers who have studied the basic physical constants of our Universe (such as the Planck constant, the gravitational constant, the electron charge, the strong interaction constant) have pondered the question: why these physical quantities exactly as we know them? What would happen if they were larger or smaller? Calculations showed that the values of these constants could vary only within very narrow limits. If they went beyond these limits, no thinking beings in the universe could arise. So, "a stronger gravitational influence would be incompatible with the formation of planets and, therefore, with the existence of observers," i.e., intelligent beings. “Similar, but even stronger arguments can be made that impose a priori restrictions on the fundamental parameters of physics,” B. Carter continues. -- For example, it is well known that the strong interaction constant is only so great that at the limit it ensures the binding of nucleons in nuclei: if it were somewhat smaller, then hydrogen would be the only element, and this, in all likelihood, would also be incompatible with the existence of life." Based on these considerations, B. Carter formulates the anthropic principle itself, indicating a deep connection between man and the Universe: “The Universe (and, therefore, the fundamental parameters on which it depends) must be such that the existence of observers is allowed in it at some stage of evolution” . This idea can be expressed in a slightly different way. Man might not have arisen in our universe. But since we exist (man nevertheless arose), we can draw an absolutely reliable conclusion: in the past, the Universe could not develop arbitrarily. It developed in such a way that the appearance of a rational being was gradually prepared in it (atoms and molecules, life, vertebrates arose). It is known for sure that not a single event has occurred in the Universe that would make the appearance of a person impossible. It follows from the simple fact of our existence that the appearance of man was gradually prepared by the entire course of the development of the material world. The nature of man and the nature of the world have a deep inner unity.

At first glance, it may seem that the anthropic principle indicates the connection between man and the universe, but has nothing to do with human needs. However, B. Carter not only formulates the concept of man as a universal, essentially cosmic being. He introduces an important research principle into scientific methodology: faced with any real phenomenon, we already know that there must have been a whole set of other phenomena and events that made this phenomenon possible. Researchers of human needs in service or marketing come to a similar principle, and this is not accidental, since research methods in different areas of human activity have much in common with each other. If there is a need, we can only fully understand it by considering the antecedent conditions, circumstances, and stages of development that made it possible.

The twentieth century was not just an era of peaceful flourishing of science and technology, an explosive growth of human needs and the means to satisfy them. It was also a century of terrible world wars, during which tens of millions of people were destroyed, and monstrous dictatorial regimes, which also destroyed many millions. Already after the First World War, it became clear that reality refuted the old Hegelian idea of meaningfulness and rationality. world history. A person can act unreasonably, destroying his own world, the history of civilization is full of tragedy and absurdity. How does a person feel in this unfair, absurd and tragic world?

The problem of feeling, experiencing a person of his existence in the 19th century. set by the great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881). In his books small man crushed by the surrounding soulless world and hard going through this depression. In the XX century. Dostoevsky's ideas were the basis of a major philosophical and literary trend - existentialism. The main problem of philosophy for existentialists is existence, that is, the feeling and experience by a person of his being in the world. This experience is expressed in a number of existential states - such as fear, concern, annoyance, horror, determination, conscience, guilt, longing, boredom. The human mind seeks to resist the absurdity and tragedy of being, to give it meaning. “I said that the world is absurd, but I was too hasty,” wrote the classic of French existentialism Albert Camus (1913-1960). “In itself this world is irrational—that is all that can be said of it. Absurd is the clash of this irrationality with the desperate thirst for clarity, the call of which is heard in the depths of the human soul. The absurd depends on man to the same extent that he depends on the world. At the moment, he is their only connection. He unites them in the way that only hatred can unite people. And that's all I can clearly discern in the vast universe where the adventure of my life is taking place. Never before, perhaps, has the attack on the mind been so vigorous as in our time. From the point of view of existentialists, the world is "recklessly silent", it contains neither a task, nor a request to a person, nor a justification for his actions, nor an answer to the question of human destiny. Created by religion, Hegel's philosophy and other cultural traditions, the illusion of the rationality of the world, its justice and disposition towards man leads to retribution - to disappointment in this rationality, despair and suicide.

To give the world meaning, existentialists believe, can only be a man himself. No one and nothing will do this for us. A person has a huge responsibility - to make choices, make decisions, fill the life of the whole society and his own with meaning. Existentialists argue that the meaning of human existence is in rebellion against the meaninglessness and absurdity of the surrounding world. This reflects the mentality of the French resistance movement (period German occupation France during the Second World War), whose participants were A. Camus and another classic of existentialism - Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980). In Being and Nothing, written in 1943 in occupied Paris, he criticizes Freud for recognizing the decisive role of the subconscious in human behavior. From Sartre's point of view, a person always makes decisions consciously and bears full responsibility for his actions (that is, for the meaning that he put into his existence and his activities).

Such an approach is well understood from the political and moral points of view - in the conditions of the underground struggle, the moral requirements for a person regarding responsibility for their behavior and their choice were extremely high. At the same time, from a scientific point of view, the denial of the role of the unconscious and subconscious principles, various influences outside world in shaping human behavior is clearly wrong. So, for example (if we return to the main topic of our course), the formation of needs occurs under the influence of many objective and subjective factors. The more fully we take into account these factors, the more accurately we can predict the development of a particular need and the behavior of consumers due to it.

3 .6 ConceptsI of humanistic psychoanalysis

A deep concept of man and his position in the modern Western world was developed in the second half of the 20th century. outstanding psychoanalyst, sociologist and philosopher, the creator of humanistic psychoanalysis Erich Fromm (1900-1980).

E. Fromm's concept of man combines the approaches of Marxism, Freudianism and existentialism. In the work “From the captivity of illusions. How I Encountered Marx and Freud" he shows that the concepts of these thinkers are based on the European humanistic tradition and complement each other: "The common soil on which the thought of both Marx and Freud has grown is the concept of humanism and humanity. The humanistic ideal of the Renaissance is the universal man, who was regarded as the highest product of natural development. Freud's view was narrowed by his mechanistic materialism, which explained the needs of human nature by man's sexuality. Marx's view was much broader due to the fact that he saw how a class society deforms a person, and therefore he could get an idea of \u200b\u200ba unmutilated person and the possibilities for his development if society becomes truly human. Freud was a liberal reformer, Marx a radical revolutionary. But no matter how different they were, they were united by an unshakable desire to liberate a person, an unshakable belief that the means of liberation is truth, and the condition for liberation is the ability of a person to break the shackles of illusions.

Fromm himself analyzes in detail the state of the human personality in contemporary society - that is, in Western countries second half of the 20th century So, in the work "To have or to be?" he holds the idea that a person can adhere to one of two alternative life orientations: orientation to being or orientation to having. He who is guided by being, strives to be rich, developed personality, and one who is oriented toward possession - to possess as much as possible big amount things, material wealth. “The choice between possession and being is contrary to common sense,” writes E. Fromm. -- Possession appears to be a natural function of life: in order to live, we must possess various things. Moreover, we should enjoy the things that belong to us. And can such an alternative ever arise in a society whose supreme goal is to have, and to have as much as possible, and in which a person can be said like this: "He is worth a million dollars"? With such an attitude, on the contrary, one gets the impression that the essence of being lies precisely in possession, and that a person is nothing if he has nothing. Nevertheless, the alternative "possession or being" was the core of the systems of the great Teachers of life. “Empirical anthropological and psychoanalytic data indicate that possession and being are the two main ways of human existence and the predominance of one of them determines the differences in the individual characters of people and types of social character. “By being, I mean such a way of life in which a person neither has anything nor desires to have anything, but is happy that he uses his abilities productively and feels himself in unity with the whole world. Goethe, immensely in love with life, one of the outstanding fighters against a one-sided and mechanistic approach to man, expressed his preference for being over having in many of his works. "Faust" is a vivid example of a description of the conflict between being and possession (Mephistopheles is the personification of the latter)." Modern society, however, values only the mode of possession - "modern man cannot understand the spirit of that society that is not oriented towards property and greed." (Let's hope that in this case E. Fromm exaggerates somewhat).

Life according to the principle of possession or according to the principle of being forms different systems of needs in people and orients them to different models of consumption. Installations for the possession of the maximum set of goods give rise to a special life strategy - consumerism. “Consumerism is characterized by an attitude, the essence of which is the desire to absorb the whole world. The consumer is the perpetual infant who demands the pacifier.” “The main objects of modern consumerism in the field of leisure are the car, television, travel and sex, and although it is commonly considered such pastime as active leisure, it would be more correct to call it passive.” "In modern advanced industrial societies, consumption is the most important form of possession." “Current consumers can define themselves by this formula: I am what I have and what I consume.

Further, however, it turns out that in modern society, needs develop under the influence not only of the mode of possession, but also of the mode of being. Fromm describes in detail the difference in approaches to education, power, communication, love, religion, knowledge, built on the basis of the principle of possession or the principle of being. Thus, the need for knowledge, which is formed on the basis of one of Them, is very different from the need for knowledge, based on another principle. The concept of Erich Fromm quite successfully describes the system of contradictions of the personality of the modern type, formed in Western countries. At the same time, the emphasis is placed primarily on human psychology and the influence of the social environment on him. Fromm's analysis of the directions of personality development, the system of values of Western civilization helps to better understand all these aspects of the concept of needs.

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For the first time, the connection between man and primates was shown by K. Linnaeus: he considered man as biological species Homo sapiens. C. Darwin in his work "The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection" showed that our anatomical, physiological, ontogenetic and behavioral characteristics are very similar to those of primates. Darwin established that the origin of man as a biological species is subject to the same laws as the origin of other biological species.

From the point of view of modern systematics, a person belongs to the genus Homo, the family People (Hominidae), the superfamily Great apes (Hominoidea), the infraorder Narrow-nosed monkeys (Catarrhini), the suborder Monkeys (Anthropoidea), the order Primates (Primates).

The formation of man How social being could not be realized without certain biological prerequisites that already existed in the distant ancestors of man - ancient primates:

Primates are relatively large organisms and, as a result, have large brains (hundreds of cubic centimeters).
In connection with the tree-climbing lifestyle, there is binocular color vision and grasping limbs.
Primates are herd animals, which created the prerequisites for the formation of society.

The main stages of human evolution

The Primates order separated from the primitive Insectivores at the end of the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era (over 70 million years ago).
Prosimians and Monkeys split about 50-60 million years ago.
broad-nosed monkeys ( South America) and narrow-nosed monkeys (Africa and Asia) separated about 35-40 million years ago (South America).
About 23 million years ago, anthropoid apes (Hominoids) separated from the common trunk of narrow-nosed monkeys.
Approximately 12 million years ago, the great apes split into Asian (modern gibbon and orangutan) and African (modern gorilla and chimpanzee, whose brain volume does not exceed 460 cc).

IN Miocene hominoids were presented in many forms:

proconsul - the ancestral form of hominoids; 12-22 million years.
pliopithecus is a primitive European form; 9-15 million years;
driopithecus - a large European forest form; 9-12 million years;
sivapitek and ramapitek are widespread forms; 7-15 million years;
Ouranopithecus - 10 million years;
Gigantopithecus is the largest hominoid; 7-10 million years;
kenyapithecus - a large African hominoid; 12-14 million years.

None of these forms are ancestral to humans: these are either dead-end branches or the ancestors of modern great apes.

Approximately 7-9 million years ago (on the border of the Pliocene and Miocene), the African anthropoid apes (hominoids) are separated branch of Hominid(Of people).

Genus Man is separated from one of the branches of Australopithecus in Southeast Africa about 2-4 million years ago (beginning of the Pleistocene). The earliest finds include Olduvai man, or Homo habilis, which differed little from Australopithecus, but created a developed pebble culture.

The appearance in the process of human embryonic development of a notochord, gill slits in the pharyngeal cavity, a dorsal hollow neural tube, bilateral symmetry in the structure of the body - determines whether a person belongs to the Chordata type. The development of the spinal column, the heart on the ventral side of the body, the presence of two pairs of limbs - to the Vertebrata subtype. Warm-bloodedness, the development of the mammary glands, the presence of hair on the surface of the body indicates that a person belongs to the class Mammalia (Mammalia). The development of the baby inside the mother's body and the nutrition of the fetus through the placenta determine the person's belonging to the subclass Placental (Eutheria). Many more specific signs clearly define the position of a person in the system of the order Primates (Primates).
So, from a biological point of view, a person is one of the types of mammals belonging to the order of primates, the suborder of the narrow-nosed.
The place of a reasonable person in modern classification appears as follows:
Subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens
Species Homo sapiens
Genus Homo
Tribe Homini
Subfamily Homininae
Family Hominidae
Superfamily Hominoidea
Section Catarrhini
Suborder Harlorhini (Antropoidea)
Order Primates

From a biological point of view, humans are one of the mammalian species belonging to the order of primates.

Hominoids are modern people and their closest relatives, the great apes, which, according to tradition, are divided into large and small apes.

The term "hominids" (derived from the family name Hominidae) should be used to refer to all populations and species with which we share a common evolutionary history distinct from that of other primates. The term "human" ("humans") should be retained solely to refer to members of the only living subspecies of hominids, Homo sapiens sapiens, as well as the term "human" to refer to characteristics that are common to members of living human populations.

Appearance and features of australopithecines

Relatively large (approximately 20-50 kg in weight, 120-150 cm in height) forms that lived on the ground walked on two legs with a straightened body position. In particular, in Australopithecus, the proportions of the torso and limbs changed, the muscles of the buttocks of the human type were powerfully developed, the position of the head was similar to that of a person, which also indicates a straightened position of the body.

A significant similarity with humans in Australopithecus is noted in the structure of the teeth and dental system. Their fangs were small (unlike all monkeys), their teeth were arranged in the form of a wide, like in humans, and not a narrow, elongated, like in monkeys, arc. The premolar teeth are bicuspid, like in humans.

The mass of the brain was close to 550 g (the average mass of the brain of gorillas is 460 g, but it must be taken into account that the body size of gorillas is many times larger). Judging by the internal casts of the cerebral cavity of the skull (endocranes), with the overall significant development of the brain, the bulge characteristic of humans in the posterior part of the temporal region was not yet present in Australopithecus.
Lifestyle. Australopithecus - inhabitants of open spaces who lived in caves. The weak development of the fangs is consistent with the assumption that the functions of attack and defense in them should have passed to free hands. In the layers of the earth where the remains of Australopithecus were found (now total number finds are estimated at several hundred), numerous bones of small baboons are found with traces of strong splitting blows. The tools that could cause such damage were large pebbles, as well as long bones of large ungulates and the jaws of other animals. Australopithecus widely used various animal bones in the form of tools: sticks, stones, bones of ungulates, etc., as percussion instruments.
Australopithecus also hunted similar ones - on a number of found skulls there are clear traces of blows, and more often these blows fell on the left temple of the victims, that is, Australopithecus were, like people, mostly right-handed. Judging by the structure of the dental system, these animals were omnivores. A well-developed forelimb with a retracted first finger indicates that they could be capable of primitive processing of tools. Among some species of these creatures, apparently, the development of fire began. In any case, traces of a bonfire that existed for a long time were found along with the remains of the Promethean Australopithecus.

The time of existence of Australopithecus. Judging by the fossil finds belonging to 5-6 different species of these creatures, they lived in the period, apparently, from 9,000,000 to 750,000 years (although no traces of Australopithecus older than 5 million years have been found). At the same time there were several different types Australopithecus, differing in body size, tooth structure (more herbivorous and more omnivorous), distribution.

In general, Australopithecus, undoubtedly, in many structural features were much closer to humans than modern anthropoid apes; this similarity, however, is more expressed in the structure of the dental system and the type of locomotion than in the structure of the brain. They used primitive tools, they had free hands.

37)main stages of anthropogenesis

Human anthropogenesis is a long and complex process. It included several steps .

Let's consider the main stages on the example of a table.

Australopithecus - highly developed bipedal primates that used natural objects as tools (hence, Australopithecus cannot yet be considered people). Bony remains of Australopithecus were first discovered in 1924 in South Africa. They were as tall as chimpanzees and weighed about 50 kg, the brain volume reached 500 cm 3 - on this basis, Australopithecus is closer to humans than any of the fossil and modern monkeys. The structure of the pelvic bones and the position of the head were similar to those of a person, which indicates a straightened position of the body. They lived about 9 million years ago in open steppes and fed on plant and animal food. The tools of their labor were stones, bones, sticks, jaws without traces of artificial processing.

Not having a narrow specialization general structure, Australopithecus gave rise to a more progressive form, called Homo habilis - a skilled man. Its bone remains were discovered in 1959 in Tanzania. Their age is determined at about 2 million years. The growth of this creature reached 150 cm. The volume of the brain was 100 cm 3 larger than that of Australopithecus, the teeth of a human type, the phalanxes of the fingers, like those of a person, are flattened.

Although it combined signs of both monkeys and humans, the transition of this creature to the manufacture of pebble tools (well-made stone ones) indicates the appearance of labor activity in it. They could catch animals, throw stones, and perform other activities. The heaps of bones found along with the fossils of Homo sapiens testify to the fact that meat has become a permanent part of their diet. These hominids used rough stone tools.

Homo erectus- erect man - the species from which modern man is believed to have descended. Its age is 1.5 million years. His jaws, teeth, and brow ridges were still massive, but the brain volume of some individuals was the same as that of modern man.

Some bones of Homo erectus have been found in caves, suggesting a permanent home. In addition to animal bones and rather well-made stone tools, heaps of charcoal and burnt bones were found in some caves, so that, apparently, at this time Australopithecus had already learned how to make fire.

This stage of hominin evolution coincides with the colonization of other colder regions by Africans. It would be impossible to survive the cold winters without developing complex behaviors or technical skills. Scientists suggest that the prehuman brain of Homo erectus was able to find social and technical solutions (fire, clothing, food supply and cohabitation in caves) to the problems associated with the need to survive in the cold of winter.

First Representative archanthropes - Pithecanthropus (Japanese person) - Ape-man, upright. His bones were found on about. Java (Indonesia) in 1891. Initially, its age was determined to be 1 million years, but, according to a more accurate modern estimate, it is a little over 400 thousand years old. The height of Pithecanthropus was about 170 cm, the volume of the cranium was 900 cm 3 .

Somewhat later there was Sinanthropus (Chinese man). Numerous remains of it were found in the period 1927 to 1963. in a cave near Beijing. This creature used fire and made stone tools. This group of ancient people also includes and Heidelberg Man.

Paleoanthropes- Neanderthals appeared to replace the archanthropes. 250-100 thousand years ago they were widely settled in Europe. Africa. Front and South Asia. Neanderthals made a variety of stone tools: hand axes, side-scrapers, sharp-pointed ones; used fire, coarse clothing. The volume of their brain grew 1400 cm 3 .

Features of the structure of the lower jaw show that they had rudimentary speech. They lived in groups of 50-100 individuals and during the onset of glaciers they used caves, driving wild animals out of them.

Neanderthals were replaced by modern people - Cro-Magnons - or neoanthropes. They appeared about 50 thousand years ago (their bone remains were found in 1868 in France). Cro-Magnons form the only genus and species of Homo Sapiens - reasonable man. Their monkey features were completely smoothed out, there was a characteristic chin protrusion on the lower jaw, indicating their ability to articulate speech, and in the art of making various tools from stone, bone and horn, the Cro-Magnons had gone far ahead compared to the Neanderthals.

They tamed animals and began to master agriculture, which made it possible to get rid of hunger and get a variety of food. Unlike their predecessors, the evolution of the Cro-Magnons took place under the great influence of social factors (team building, mutual support, improvement of labor activity, more high level thinking).

The emergence of Cro-Magnons is the final stage in the formation of a modern type of man. The primitive human herd was replaced by the first tribal system, which completed the formation of human society, the further progress of which began to be determined by socio-economic laws.

Man appeared on Earth as a result of a long process of historical and evolutionary development - phylogenesis and is closely connected by its origin with the animal world.

However, man differs from animals not only in a more perfect structure, but also in developed thinking, the presence of articulate speech, intelligence, which are determined by a complex of social conditions of life, social relationships, and socio-historical experience. Labor and social environment changed the biological characteristics of man.

In the system of the animal world, a person occupies the following position: kingdom - Animals, type - Chordates, subtype - Vertebrates, class - Mammals, order - Primates, suborder - Humanoids, section - Narrow-nosed, superfamily - Hominoids, family - Hominids, genus - Man, species - Homo sapiens.

The human body has the following distinctive features that are common to all representatives of the mammalian class.

1. Seven cervical vertebrae and articulation of the skull with the first cervical vertebra using the condyles of the occipital bone.

2. Abdominal obstruction (diaphragm), built of muscle tissue and separating the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity.

3. Two generations of teeth - milk and permanent, subdivided into incisors, canines and molars.

4. The presence of shaped lips and muscular cheeks.

5. A four-chambered heart that delivers arterial blood to tissues, which does not mix with venous blood.

6. Preservation of one (left) aortic arch, while amphibians and reptiles have two (right and left) aortic arches.

7. The development of the outer ear and the presence of three auditory ossicles in the middle ear cavity.

8. The skin is covered with hair (for some - only in the fetal period of development), rich in sweat and sebaceous glands.

9. The presence of mammary glands.

In addition to the listed features of the structure, a person has a number of biological features similar to mammals. Thus, the human body has a constant temperature close to 37 °C. A person is characterized by live birth, prolonged gestation in the mother's body and the development of special organs to perform these functions.

The most similarity between humans and primates. Primates are animals with five-fingered grasping limbs. They are able to grasp objects, which is ensured by increased mobility of the fingers and the ability of the thumb to oppose the rest.

Greater mobility of the upper limb is associated with the development of the clavicle and with structural features of the spherical shoulder joint. Primate fingers are equipped with flat nails, not claws. Primates are plantigrade animals. When moving, they rely on the entire foot. Primates have well developed cerebral hemispheres.

They are characterized by low fertility, care for offspring, high development of herd relations, rich mimic and sound signaling.

Man and anthropomorphic (humanoid) monkeys (chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, gibbon) form a superfamily of higher narrow-nosed, or hominoids. The most important features of the similarity of anthropomorphic monkeys with humans are manifested in body proportions: a short torso and long limbs, a set of signs associated with upright posture: reduction of the caudal vertebrae, a decrease in the number of thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, an increase in the number of sacral vertebrae, the presence of rudimentary bends of the spinal column, a wide sternum and others

Humans and anthropomorphic monkeys are similar in cytological and biochemical characteristics. Thus, the double set (diploid number) of chromosomes in the nuclei of somatic cells in higher anthropomorphic primates and in humans is almost the same (48 chromosomes in primates, 46 in humans). The homology of humans and chimpanzees has been established in terms of blood groups and the Rh factor, which was first discovered in monkeys.

At the same time, a person, unlike higher, anthropoid apes, has a number of characteristic features (signs of "hominization").

1. Upright posture associated with transformations in the musculoskeletal system.

2. Intensive development of the brain, especially the cerebral cortex.

3. Adaptation of the hand and especially the hand to work. The ability to oppose the thumb of the hand to the rest of the fingers, especially the little finger.

4. Changes in the dentition and the formation of articulate speech.

5. Restructuring the stages of ontogenesis - an increase in the duration of the intrauterine period, a slowdown in puberty, a lengthening of the period of childhood, an increase in life expectancy.

It should be emphasized that in humans, the properties that appeared in higher apes are most pronounced.

To the type of chordates, since the embryo has a notochord, gill slits in the pharyngeal cavity, a dorsal (dorsal) hollow neural tube and bilateral body symmetry.

To the subtype of vertebrates, since it develops a spinal column from the vertebrae, a heart on the ventral side of the body, two pairs of limbs.

To the class of mammals, since it is warm-blooded, the mammary glands are developed; due to the presence of hair on the surface of the body.

To the placental subclass: the development of the baby inside the mother's body, the nutrition of the fetus through the placenta.

From a biological point of view, a person is one of the species of mammals belonging to the order of primates, the suborder of narrow-nosed.

In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin proved that man is the last, highly organized link in the chain of development of living beings and has common ancestors with the great ape. The driving factor in human evolution is natural selection based on hereditary variability and social (public) factors. The theory of natural selection is as follows: food resources are limited on Earth and many organisms have an unlimited ability to reproduce. Due to hereditary variability (mutations and recombinations), organisms are heterogeneous and a struggle for existence arises between them (species and interspecies), and organisms also resist the environment (struggle against abiotic factors). The consequence of the struggle for existence is the natural selection of organisms that are most adapted to specific conditions. The role of social factors such as labor activity, social lifestyle, speech and thinking was also great. The social evolution of man has developed on the foundation of the biological revolution. The emergence of a social form of movement does not cancel the action of biological laws, but only changes them.

Australopithecus - inhabitants of open spaces. The weak development of the canines is consistent with the assumption that the functions of attack and defense should have been transferred to free hands. Bones of small baboons with traces of strong splitting blows were found near the remains of Australopithecus. Such damage could be caused by large pebbles, or by long bones of ungulates. Sticks were also used as percussion instruments. Hunting for others like themselves was also widespread. Australopithecus, like humans, were mostly right-handed. And they were omnivores. Among some species of these creatures, the development of fire began, in any case, traces of a long-existing fire were found along with the remains of Promethean Australopithecus. Judging by the fossil finds, they lived in a period, apparently, from 8,000,000 to 750,000 years. There were several different types of Australopithecus, differing in size and physique. The most likely candidate for the ancestors of the trunk of the genus Homo seems to be the less differentiated Afar Australopithecus, whose remains were found in Ethiopia, in layers of about 3.5 million years old. Some species of Australopithecus already existed together with the early forms of man and could be his victims. And some lived even later, for example, the meganthropes of East Asia, who lived, apparently, even 300-400 years ago.

In general, Australopithecus in many ways were much closer to humans than modern great apes. They used primitive tools, they had free hands.

In 1959, bones of a postcranial skeleton were found in the Oldowai Gorge, along with the remains of one of the Australopithecus, and in 1960, in the same place, the skull of a creature closer to humans than Australopithecus was found. Several dozen fragments of a similar shape were found here and elsewhere in Africa. This creature was called Homo habilis - a skilled man. The age of these finds is determined at 2 million years.

Archanthropes. So, in one of the branches of the trunk of Australopithecus, the ability to produce tools of labor arose and developed, which was closely connected with the further development of upright walking and the brain. At the same time, probably, there was a wide development of fire. About 2 million years ago, H. habilis began to rapidly spread to Africa, the Mediterranean, and Asia. Settling and getting into new conditions of existence, they formed separate isolated forms. These forms lived from 2 million to 140 thousand years ago and were called archanthropes. Outwardly, they were similar to modern humans, although there was still a powerful development of the superciliary ridge and the absence of a real chin protrusion. The mass of their brain (about 800-1000 g) significantly exceeded H. habilis and even exceeded the lower limits of the normally developed brain of modern man (the average brain mass of H. sapiens is about 1300 g). The average body height of the most ancient people was undoubtedly not the same, but it is believed that their average height was about 160 cm (for men) and about 150 cm for women. Perhaps there were also larger forms. These creatures were distinguished by well-developed tool activity, they could freely butcher killed animals, successfully hunted elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, deer, rodents and large birds. There were still cases of cannibalism. Berries, fruits and roots played a significant role in food. Ancient people lived mainly in caves, but were already able to build primitive shelters from large stones. Fire was used in places of permanent parking. The question of the extraction of fire is still not clear, most likely it was maintained for a long time once lit by lightning. The harsh life in many ways still resembled that of an animal; There was a high infant and youth mortality rate.

After a period of maximum prosperity 600-400 thousand years ago, these forms quickly disappeared, giving rise to a new group - paleoanthropes, or Neanderthals.

Neanderthals (paleoanthorps). In more than 400 places in Europe, Asia and Africa, the remains of creatures that lived from 250 to 40 thousand years ago were found. They were an intermediate link between the archanthropes and Homo sapiens both in body structure and in the development of culture. According to the place of the first find (the valley of the Neanderthal River), they were called Neanderthals. They had a low sloping forehead, a solid supraorbital ridge, a large face with widely spaced eyes, a weak development of the chin protrusion, large teeth, a short massive neck and small stature (155-165 cm). The proportions of the body were close to those of a person. The mass of the brain was about 1500 g, and the departments associated with logical thinking received a stronger development. The use of fire for cooking was widespread, as evidenced by the finds at the sites of burnt bones, not only of animals, but also of the Neanderthals themselves, which indicates cannibalism. The objects of hunting were usually large mammals. The tools of the Neanderthals were much more perfect than primitive processed pebbles. It was among the Neanderthals that the first rudiments of such a concept as society appeared. They survived in the struggle for existence thanks to the unification of the forces of individual individuals, which led 50-40 thousand years ago to the emergence of the species to which we belong. - Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens. But still, is there anything in common between Just an animal and an Animal named Man?

Every animal is endowed with innate instincts before birth, and man is no exception. Unconditioned reflexes are inherited by offspring from parents and persist throughout life. The baby of any animal breathes, is able to swallow and unmistakably finds the mother's nipple (if we are talking about a mammal). Another factor that unites man and animal is the struggle for existence. But only in animals it mainly occurs with species different from themselves, and a person has to fight with his own kind. Both of them use all their possibilities and forces for this. Both of them have a choice of survival policy: either hide or bare their teeth, fangs, claws and show (or pretend) that you are stronger. Both man and animal are able to perceive information from the outside (visual, sound). But the organs of hearing and vision of man are imperfect in comparison with animals, many animals have organs that are more perfect in at least one respect. Also, animals are able to make sounds that we are not able to perceive, while other animals perceive them freely.

Talking about the differences is much easier - there are more of them. Man is one of the few animals that can walk upright. A person has a highly developed rational activity, and this is the reason for the relative lack of instinctive regulation to the surrounding world. Self-consciousness and reason have turned a person into an anomaly. Man is the only creature that can be bored, dissatisfied, or feel ostracized. Man is the only creature for whom his own existence can constitute a problem to be solved and which cannot be avoided. The fact that death is imminent cannot be canceled for a person. This, by the way, shows that the primitive but very necessary instinct of self-preservation has been replaced by awareness and somewhat dulled. It is in connection with this that suicide is not uncommon among people (among animals this phenomenon is extremely rare). Restlessness is the condition that awakens a person to reveal his powers. One of the most striking features of man is the great depth of passions and drives he demonstrates. Which, in other matters, are, as it were, an “evolved form” of instincts. Even with the full satisfaction of hunger, thirst, sexual desires, a person may remain unsatisfied. In contrast to animals, in humans, problems are not solved by this, but from this they begin. Man has innate religious needs that cannot be explained. And the responses to the human need for orientation and worship are very different in content and form (from totemism to Buddhism and other religious and philosophical communities). Religion is not always the object of worship, it is not rare that it is an object not originally intended for this (money, power, paintings, films). At their core, all people are "idealists" and strive for something other than physical satisfaction.

And so we saw the natural origin of man. We saw that earlier, many thousands of years ago, man was a part of nature equal to others. But in the process of evolution, step by step, man separated from it. Starting with the exit from the forest and a stick in his hands, a person has already reached atomic bombs, but still has not stopped. Now a person is able to process and use virtually anything for his own purposes. Man imagines himself great, the king of nature, pointing at the same time to the creations of his own hands. Man created more and more perfect tools, first of labor, then of hunting, and then of killing others and his own kind.

Proof of the hypothesis of the origin of humans from animals. Their place in the system of living nature and appearance. The main approaches to the problem of man and his needs among thinkers of the 20th century: the theories of Darwin, Freud, anthroposociogenesis, the concept of "Russian cosmism".

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ABSTRACT

In the discipline "Anthropology"

on the topic of:

"The place of man in the system of the animal world"

Student: Andrey Gorskikh

Specialty: Psychology

Group: 210dp-3

Student card number: 210-155

Teacher:Rybalov Leonid Borisovich

Moscow2010

1. Proof of the hypothesis of the origin of man from animals

2. The place of man in the system of living nature and the origin of man

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