Genesis hints that language, empathy, and morality hold the keys to human uniqueness. What does science say? Can the ‘fall’ be historical?
Listen or Read. Your Choice.
The
first steps toward human language required walking on two legs. In four-legged
animals, breathing and running are synchronized to one breath per stride as the
thorax braces for the impact of the front legs. Weightlifters do the same when they
hold their breath before hoisting the bar. Bipedalism not only allowed the
larynx to descend, it relieved the thorax of its support function while
running, which allowed our early ancestors to coordinate their breathing,
running, and vocalizing. Human speech and laughter would have been impossible
if Ardipithecus ramidus had not stood
upright almost four-and-a-half million years ago. [1]
Human
language involves two kinds of sharing. First, everyone must agree what words
mean and how to use them, and second, we must agree that the information we
share is truthful. Without meeting both conditions, human languages could not
function. Human languages are thus socially shared symbolic systems that
rely upon cooperation for their use. This seems to create a problem for the evolutionary explanation of the
development of language. Isn’t evolution based on survival of the fittest – the
natural selection of individuals or their genes? The evolution of language
doesn’t seem to fit that pattern, since language relies on cooperation rather
than competition.
Human cooperation seems even more difficult to explain when compared to the social lives of other primates. The basic building blocks of primate society are deception, manipulation, and social status/power. [2] If human language arose under those conditions, we would expect it to facilitate more complex forms of deception and manipulation. What we would not expect, according to linguist and psychologist Michael Tomasello, is a communication system that relies on sharing and has as its basic motivation “the desire to help others by providing them with the information they need.” [3] Perhaps it’s our understanding of evolution that needs amendment.
Human language involves two kinds of sharing. First, everyone must agree what words mean and how to use them, and second, we must agree that the information we share is truthful.
Besides
language, two other unique features of human social lives rely on cooperation.
The first is “intersubjectivity,” which is an umbrella term for a suite of
capacities that require joint action, a joint frame of reference, or empathy. [4] To work together in joint action, people must agree on a
shared goal, which involves a bit of “mind reading” that other primates can’t
duplicate. Furthermore, chimps don’t hold up objects for other chimps to
consider, but people will say things like, “Look at that beautiful sunset.”
When we use joint frames of reference such as this to share our experiences or
emotions with another person, it goes by the name of “empathy.”
Morality
is the second feature of human sociality that relies on cooperation. For morality
to exist, people must agree what constitutes “right” or “wrong” behavior, establishing
a joint frame of reference, and they must agree what to do when those standards
are violated, which requires joint action. Where does language come into play?
Even the earliest expressions of human morality relied on “shared values” and
“joint action.
