How We Became Human

by Tim Dean

Over thousands of years, humans have developed mechanisms to help us live together in ever-larger social groups. We developed a set of 'moral emotions' such as empathy, guilt and outrage, as well as a tendency to favour people in our in-groups and a propensity to punish perceived wrongdoers. Our culture also evolved, giving us powerful tools like religion and politics that could expand community sizes and maintain moral order.

While these mechanisms served our ancestors well, though, our evolved sense of right and wrong is out of step with the modern world. Social media can turn outrage into an addiction, gender equality is still hampered by caveman thinking, and implicit bias turns to explicit oppression. How do we separate what's natural from what's right? How can we reshape our thinking to thrive in the modern world?

Here one of Australia's brightest philosophers charts the evolution of morality from the first humans to today, and shows us how we can turn towards a better future.

Praise for How We Became Human:

'In the battle of our genes, our minds, our souls, which wins? Hate and love, good and evil, right and wrong. Let Tim Dean unlock the mystery of being human. There are some thinkers just made for our times: Dean is one of them.' - Stan Grant

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Audiobook

368 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2021

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fascinating explorations in this book. I'll be sitting with some of these ideas for a while,

[Emma Gerts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating discussion of how our society has outstripped our evolution and how so many of the strange and problamtic behaviours the human race engages in are the product of a brain evolved to small, hunter gather societies. Hihgly recommend for anyone interested in evolutionary anthropology or the philosophy of morality.

[Maher Razouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

يوجد الآن قبول متزايد بين الفلاسفة وعلماء الأنثروبولوجيا وعلماء النفس وعلماء الاجتماع وغيرهم لفكرة أن وجود التنوع الأخلاقي يوحي بشيء عميق: أن الأخلاق ليست ثابتة ؛ أنه لا توجد أخلاق واحدة حقيقية ؛ أنه بينما يعتمد الأمر على طبيعتنا الاجتماعية المتطورة ، فإنه متروك لنا لتقرير كيفية عمل الأخلاق ؛ ومثل أي كائن يجد نفسه في بيئة جديدة ، فإنه يحتاج إلى التطور والتكيف مع العالم الحديث.

بطريقة ما ، هذا يشبه الإدراك الذي أصاب تشارلز داروين وألفريد راسل والاس في القرن التاسع عشر عندما يتعلق الأمر بفهم التنوع البيولوجي في جميع أنحاء العالم. قبل ذلك القرن ، نادرًا ما غامر الغالبية العظمى من الناس بالمشي لأكثر من بضعة أيام بعيداً عن مسقط رأسهم. بالنسبة لمعظمهم ، بدت النباتات والحيوانات التي أحاطت بهم طوال حياتهم موجودة في كل مكان ولا تتغير مثل النجوم التي تسبح في سماء الليل - أو الأعراف الأخلاقية التي يعتنقونها. كل شجرة وطيور وحشرة كانت كما هي ، مخلوقة إلهياً في شكلها النهائي. ومع ذلك ، بمجرد أن بدأ علماء الطبيعة مثل داروين ووالاس في المغامرة إلى أبعد من ذلك ، اكتشفوا أن انطباعهم عما كان عالميًا وغير متغير قد تحطم بسبب الحقيقة الغاشمة للتنوع البيولوجي.
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Tim Dean
How We Became Human
Translated By #Maher_Razouk

[Ben Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

How We Became Human gives the reader a tour of contemporary morality in Western society, in particular detailing the role evolutionary psychology and the structure/environment of ancestral societies has had in building this morality. Dean concludes this evolved morality, which he calls a "cultural invention", is out-of-touch with the post-industrialization metropolis many of us find ourselves in, and contends it is necessary to renovate this crusty dusty musty piece of cultural tech to better suit us.

I found the intersection of biology, genetics, psychology and philosophy explored in this book to be immensely fascinating. I consider myself quite naive and callow, so this was all new and exciting knowledge for me. Chapter 2 was particularly insightful - I took the implicit association test as suggested and was unpleasantly surprised by the results. I will now be actively paying attention to the way my apparent evolutionarily enforced implicit bias affects my decisions and actions. The book basically is making me change my behaviour - the hallmark of any great book.

The commentary on social media was lacking a bit. Dean explored how social media capitalises on social outrage and "cancel culture" because it's what brings in the big bucks. But he neglected to mention how social media is also a key part of the culture ways that manifest in cancel culture (as well as other cultural phenomena) - the recommendation algorithms are designed to promote radicalization rabbit-holes. Because social outrage expressed on social media (ie cancel culture) is so financially beneficial, social media companies use AI to track people's media uptake to try optimise the radicalization process, causing an increasingly polarized, Manichaean culture. So that's just a minor thing that would have been interesting to explore.

I also feel the book was slightly too prolix in some areas. Chapter 5 particularly could have been made a lot more laconic without detracting much. This made it feel a little repetitive at times.

Lastly, almost all moral tendencies and cultural behaviours in the relevant to Dean's arguments were explained using evolutionary psychology. We have implicit bias towards people of other nationalities because this suspicion of people with different appearances helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors survive. Religion exists due to a mixture of a need for social cohesion, serendipity (or zemblanity, depending on your stance) and historical nescience. The desire for homogeny and social cohesion (and consequent aversion to ethnic diversity) arose because historically close-knit, cohesive communities were relatively successful in fulfilling each individual's wants. However, Dean doesn't explain the psychology behind "Anywheres" - people who don't feel tied to a particular location or culture. And I couldn't intuit a natural, evolutionary justification for Anywhere's existing. Maybe that's just me being me, but I feel like this isn't something particularly intuitive and an explanation of this psychological disposition would have been welcome.

On the plus side, the ending in particular was brilliantly concise and relevant. I know nothing much about morality, having been gifted this book by people invested in my academic and intellectual efflorescence, but ended up with a decent understanding of moral realism (which Dean refers to as the One True Morality concept) and moral relativism (which Dean ended up convincingly arguing for).

There were also several call-to-actions throughout the book. Which was psychologically satisfying. Dean highlighted current disjunctions between morality and our current environment, and offered implementable remedies for the individual. Left me feeling less existentially depleted, for sure. And he was candid in saying these suggestions won't fix everything, and that there are still many social problems that exist. But the one's he explored he offered a solution for. Which I laud.

Those minor criticisms aside, this was a highly lucrative, accessible and insightful read.

[Scotia Mullin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The author was engaging and informative and made me think critically about my own stances and how I got there.
This book primary draws on anthropology, philosophy, and ethics to explain our evolution and how we have come to be human in a modern sense.
I also like that the author acknowledges their biases and presents opposing standpoints thoroughly as well as highlighting flaws in his own logic over the years.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

🤔 Hmmm! Maybe we could spend less time on social media, stop reading the news and read this book with an open mind. Dean presents valuable possible solutions for us to consider and you may obtain insights, new perspectives and ideas as to how we can possibly live in new ways, improving social living and the quality of life.

[Kate Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love any book that dissects what is to be human and this book doesn't fail to please. It is a fascinating look at how much of our reactions hark back to ancestral times and how the contemporary use of social media can feed into reactive responses that longer server us well as a society. Hopefully this book doesn't just preach to the converted like me.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give it 3 1/2 stars if I could. I’m in two minds about this book. While the author makes some interesting points, and part of it were certainly engaging, overall I found this book very dry and struggled to finish it. I think I would have enjoyed it more (and retained more) if it had been written in a more engaging style and were shorter.

[Louisa Lowry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a book everyone should read. Borrowed from the library but I will be buying my own copy. You do not need to be a philosopher to understand this and it is so relevant and refreshing. Fascinating insights into 2016!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4.5 stars. Insightful and concise, half a star under perfect merely because the chapter structure becomes repetitive and I found my attention wandering more frequently the further through I got.

[Steven Kolber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and philosophically stimulating. Also meandering at times and not always as crisp and precise as it could be. A strong reliance on: back in the Neanderthal times - despite the broader premise that morality is different across groups, a lot of harking back to this same period occurred.

[Rhys Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Good for a curious mind.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and thought-provoking. I have to return it to the library but I plan to read it again.

[shakyra]

found on ethics.org.au

[Peter Skurr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thought provoking book. Well written. Certainly worth a read, and something that I will probably have to read again at some point.

[Chiara LoVe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the evolution of morality, from sexism, racism, social media outrage and religions. A great journey to help expanding your thinking

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, although I listened to the audiobook and definitely tuned out (ie. fell asleep) and missed bits!