Overview

Language and culture are often seen as unique characteristics of human beings. In this book the author argues that our ability to use a wide array of emotions evolved long before spoken language and, in fact, constituted a preadaptation for the speech and culture that developed among later hominids. Long before humans could speak with words, they communicated through body language their emotional dispositions; and it is the neurological wiring of the brain for these emotional languages that represented the key evolutionary breakthrough for our species. How did natural selection work on the basic ape anatomy and neuroanatomy to create the hominid line? The author suggests that what distinguished our ancestors from other apes was the development of an increased capacity for sociality and organization, crucial for survival on the African savanna. All apes display a propensity for weak ties, individualism, mobility, and autonomy that was, and is today, useful in arboreal and woodland habitats but served them poorly when our ancestors began to move onto the African plain during the late Miocene.

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9780804737197

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Reviews

'Turner's thesis - the primacy of biologically based emotions as the foundation of human social bonding - is intellectually stimulating, and scholars in many fields, not only in the social sciences but also in biology and the humanities, will want to read this book. The development of his thesis is well organized, and the writing style is clear and engaging, especially important ina book that ranges widely over many disciplines.' Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University

Turner's thesis - the primacy of biologically based emotions as the foundation of human social bonding - is intellectually stimulating, and scholars in many fields not only in the social sciences but also in biology and the humanities, will want to read this book... The writing style is clear and engaging. - Larry Arnhart, Northern Illinois University Turner's book is intelligent, well-written, and scholarly. The argument is strong and plausible. It is an impressive achievement from the standpoint of neuroscience. - Antonio R. Damasio,University of Iowa

Author Information

Jonathan H. Turner is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of more than twenty books.

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