If you believe the words of Darwin, then the person descended from a monkey. If you revise religious treatises, then everything in the world, including man, was created by God. And if we turn to recent scientific research, it may turn out that the human individual evolved from one of the representatives of the deep sea. Probably, as long as humanity will exist, there will be debate about the true origin of Homo sapiens. But the social factors of anthropogenesis have long been known to science, so it is worth considering them.
What is anthropogenesis?
The first thing to start with is the definition of concepts. There is no reliable data on the origin of the first person, but science allows us to track the process of its development and formation. Anthropogenesis is the formation of man in the process of evolution. It includes physical development, the emergence of speech, the creation of tools and a joint way of living. As a result of this process, man was able to separate from other mammals and begin to develop as a separate, intelligent species.
The most scientifically grounded doctrine of anthropogenesis is Darwin's theory of evolution. The evolution of other living organisms is distinctive from human anthropogenesis. The first is guided exclusively by the laws of nature. Man, contrary to these laws, was able to realize his abilities and put them into practice, changing the environment to suit his needs.
Key factors
Anthropogenesis is the process of human becoming. But, as you know, man is a social being, therefore not only physiological aspects influenced his development. So, in the process of evolution, natural selection took place, which allowed only the strongest individuals to survive. Accordingly, this caused the transfer of strong genes that improved with each generation. This is one of the main biological factors that played a major role in the initial stage of anthropogenesis. This process gave a person the opportunity to develop physically, to become more resilient and fit.
In turn, Friedrich Engels indicated that the social factors of anthropogenesis had a significant influence on the formation of the human species. These include:
- Thinking.
- Speech.
- Labor activity.
- The desire to live in groups.
The biological and social factors of anthropogenesis have been made "out of a human monkey." At a time when the climate was changing, forest areas were decreasing, Homo sapiens was forced to adapt: to stand upright (upright), create tools to get food, and join in groups to protect themselves from predators.
Stages of anthropogenesis
The formation of man took more than one million years. From the moment the first anthropoid monkey got to its feet, until the moment when they began to unite in groups, several thousand years passed. In general, the sequence of anthropogenesis can be divided into 3 main stages:
- Anthropoid progenitors. They include primates that could move freely on the two lower limbs and use simple objects such as stones, sticks, bones.
- Paleoanthropes. Or ancient people. They already lived in small groups (communities), had an idea of what hunting was, learned how to make tools from simple objects, lived in caves and knew how to make fire. Outwardly, they reminded a person of something.
- Neoanthropes. The physical structure of the body is fully consistent with modern man. Possessed primitive communication skills. In addition to hunting, they collected vegetables and fruits. They knew how to build homes, painted walls with drawings, sewn clothes from the skins of dead animals.
Social factors of anthropogenesis
Anthropogenesis is not a linear and smooth process, at each of its stages several currents are formed that develop separately from each other. Moreover, each of these trends becomes the root cause of the emergence of new development paths. So, when there was a joint work, there was a need for communication in order to coordinate their actions. Then a man came up with a language. In turn, the language received a separate development, and in the course of history, people were able to switch from spoken to written. And the written speech has already begun to be filled with epithets, metaphors, rules, and other speech turns.
All this became possible thanks to the social factors of evolution. There are four social factors that have the greatest impact on the initial stage of anthropogenesis. These include:
- Group accommodation.
- Improving work items.
- General labor activity.
- Improving labor processes.
Now consider each of them in more detail.
Group accommodation
After a man stood on two legs, he realized that it was much safer to unite with his own kind. Group collaboration allowed the first people to hunt large prey and move safely in open areas. Living in a group gave people time to modernize their tools. He did not have to constantly be on his guard, so all his free time was allotted to create new guns and develop a new hunting strategy. In the group, everyone fulfilled their role: men procured food, and women cared for the elderly and children. As a result of this distribution of obligations, mortality has decreased.
Improving work items
The improvement of tools would be impossible without the transfer of knowledge and skills from the older generation to the younger. That is why the old people were respected. They could tell how to hunt properly, what plants can be eaten, how to create tools, etc. As history shows, only those groups survived that had experienced senior mentors that could pass on their knowledge to the younger generation.
Groups that had more advanced weapons could occupy better territories, crowding out other residents to places less suitable for living. As a result, the most agile and quick-witted survived, who not only adopted the experience of others, but also supplemented it with new, independently acquired knowledge.
General labor activity
Thanks to collective hunting, common coexistence and the transfer of experience to senior tribesmen, humanity has a chance to survive. But all this required special signals for the exchange of information. The development of joint activities in groups has caused speech.
Initially, people communicated using gestures, individual sounds and facial expressions. Gradually, an undeveloped larynx evolved into a speech apparatus, and a person was able to master a new way of transmitting information.
Unlike higher mammals, which respond to environmental changes with the help of the organs of vision, hearing and scent, a person got the opportunity to use the second signaling system. Homo sapiens is able, with the help of words, to arrange events in a short message. This is one of the main differences between man and animal, a peculiar feature, having crossed that, a man has become the head of nature.
Improvement of life
Speaking and working together strengthened the bond between people in groups. They began to act better together. But there were other groups around, which at any moment could push back rivals in the territory, which were unsuitable for living. In addition, climatic conditions were unpredictable, but had to survive.
In this regard, the classes of ancient people began to improve. The first thing they started with is the tools. Later, the labor processes themselves became more complicated. In addition to hunting, people began to collect fruits and vegetables, sometimes they even took honey from wild bees. But the main role in the process of anthropogenesis was definitely played by the use of fire. The food prepared on it was much tastier. In addition, such food did not load the chewing apparatus, and after millennia the powerful chewing monkey muscles and the bone connecting them lost their meaning.
Final word
After the appearance of articulate speech in humans, a significant development of the cerebral cortex was noted. In turn, this contributed to thinking, which made the survival process not so irresistible.
Social factors of anthropogenesis played a role in the process of human development. But they would not have been possible without initial physical changes. And in turn, further physiological transformations occurred due to the driving social factors of evolution.
The process of becoming a person took more than one million years. Modern man is the result of a long chain of changes that extends across the boundaries of history: from the moment the first ape-shaped monkey got on its feet, to the advent of the latest technology.