II.      The solution

Hypothesis 7

The succession of brain and mind

As the basis of the human mind, the human brain is an evolutionary innovation that couldn’t have developed gradually but rather only through a change of function. The co-evolution of mind and brain is replaced by another model of thinking, that of the temporal succession:

First the human brain developed, then the human mind developed. First the human brain had to be created for biological reasons. Only then could the human brain become the basis of the human mind through a change in function.

Explanation:

The biological basis of the human mind is the human brain. Therefore, the development of the human brain is a central question in the development of human culture and the human mind.

In order to escape the aporia of the co-evolution of brain and mind, the evolution of both needs to be examined separately. My hypothesis is that the mind had no role in the formation of the brain – the brain was formed in a much different way.

The evolution of the animal brain can be described by means of Darwin’s theory of evolution. This also applies to monkeys, the ancient great apes and prehistoric humans. I, however, am going to go one step further and say: The evolution of the human brain is also a matter of biology and biological evolution that follows the Darwinian Theory.

In my hypothesis, the evolution of the brain and the mind of humans have nothing to do with each other. As opposed to a co-evolution, I assume that they developed separately – one after the other. First of all, the brain is created according to the rules of biological evolution. Only when the finished brain is available to humans, is the process of the evolution of intellectual capabilities able to begin.