Human/Nature Final Synthesis Essay Olga Britantchouk Fall Term 2012 Professor Becky Boesch We are the Human

Animal How can human/nature be defined? How can everyday occurrences be explained? Culture is what sets us all, humans, apart. After many years of evolution and brain development what began to set us apart form each other were the languages we spoke and our cultural background. Our sets of: morals, rules, and regimes that we live by make us as unique as we are today. In Paul R. Ehrlichs book Human Natures, he stresses the importance of evolution and brain development all tying back to culture/language: Pedro, a middle school student from a family of poor Mexican Immigrants, desperately wants to go to college even though no one in his family has ever done so. He studies hard, but his school counselor discourages. Tests indicate that his intelligence quotient (IQ) is only 98. Grace, on the other hand, a student from a well-to-do Anglo family, scored 125 on the IQ test. She seems bound for Yale University, the college her father attended. She hardly studies yet gets terrific grades. . . . (Ehrlich 2) Even though Pedro and Grace are both humans with similar brain structures, which have evolved over time and have the capacity for language, they are not defined by these lines. Pedros environment, financial standing, and the individuals he surrounds himself with are entirely different from Graces; all these factors make culture a greater variant amongst each individual. Ehrlich, Lakoff, and many other philosophers share a

set of interconnected, yet at times divergent ideas on the topic of Human Nature and what it really means to be human. Pedro and Grace are a case study example of the concept of how human/nature relates to culture and language; and how the brain and human evolution have influenced culture, language, and the meaning of being human. When connected, all these lenses produce the strongest lens with which to view the development of human consciousness. Because of self awareness and the ability for abstract thought, our brains have the potential for critical thinking. Critical thinking in culture has been an essential tool because it has helped us follow religion, produce art, and solve everyday problems which may arise. Because of critical thinking the human race has developed cultural norms as well as set beliefs and rules that we, as humans, live by. In different parts of the world where cultures differ, religion and cultural norms also differ. In Ehrlichs chapter, Evolving Brains, Evolving Minds, he brings to attention an example of how different cultures may perceive certain ideas: For example, some cultures do not commonly use pictures that are two-dimensional representations of three dimensional scenes, and people from these cultures do not employ cues of object size, superimposition, and perspective in interpreting pictures, as people from picture using cultures do as a matter of course (Ehrlich 132). Ehrlich elucidates this by stating that different cultures may see the same norms or regimes in different ways. Homosapiens have evolved over time and developed needed attributes to survive. Tools were an important part to survival and the tool makers, Homo habilis were the first species to make tools which in later evolution were improved by Homo ergaster and Homo erectus. Another evolutionary theory was that we dispersed from Africa, out-of-

Africa theory, as Ehrlich illustrates here: Not only was the H. Ergaster the first hominid to occupy very seasonal and arid habitats in Africa, but also, about a million years ago possibly considerably earlier, it dispersed from Africa, perhaps in a series of movements triggered by climate changes (Ehrlich 94). He is showing that we all evolved from one distinct geographical area and dispersed into different geographical areas after we became more evolutionary advanced. Even though we have all evolved from the same types of species, we differ in cultural perspectives and geographic backgrounds. In Lakoffs article, Metaphors we live by he argues that metaphors are vital to everyday life and especially language: Metaphor is for the most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish-a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary languagewe have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is persuasive in everyday life, not just in language (Lakoff 1) Metaphors as well as syntax, and semantics, are all part of the language that our brain strands into linear pathways which makes it easy to convey thought; like this assignment which my brain created with all the knowledge that I had about the subject and made a linear path so the reader could understand my thoughts. Metaphors are going to vary for each individual depending on their cultural background and their understanding of what the metaphors mean. This will determine their interpretation of language in each culture. It has been said that we are born with the capacity for language. Overtime, our brains have evolved, and so did our ability for speech and language. As humans evolved and we had more of an upright posture, the larynx lowered to allow more airflow and became elongated. The evolutionary elongating of the larynx gives us a wider range of vocal ability and eventually our grunts and cavemen like sounds evolved into words

and eventually we began forming sentences. Because all humans brain developed this way we all have the same capacity for language, and in fact when we are children our brains have a broader brain plasticity which leads us to be able to learn language (with the syntax, semantics, and metaphors) very easily. As we get older our brains become less moldable to language and all the hard concepts and rules to grasp that come with learning language. We use language culturally to convey our thoughts and feelings and this trait was evolved for our survival. This also emphasizes our basic human ability in terms of evolution. Examples such as Pedro and Grace are merely ways to define how culture/language relates with brain development/ evolution to make us what we are today. They, however, are not lines; they are lenses which simply help us grasp the complexity of being a human individual. Ehrlich, Lakoff, and many others ideas about human/nature connect and intersect like vines in a jungle; they dont always lead to the same destination, or arrive at the same concept, but they have some common roots. They help us see a bigger picture, a more common lens, and not just a few separate ones. With constant innovations in culture, the differences in humans become greater and more interesting. Our capacity for language and the constant desire to add on to culture because of brain development and over millions of years of evolution, all intersect much like the jungle vines which lead us to different cultures but make us stand out as individuals, and all that really is what makes us human.