264

With the emergence of human culture and the cultural ability of modern humans, something new and unprecedented is emerging.

Parade, Cusco, Peru, 27. 8. 1989
Parade, Cusco, Peru, 27. 8. 1989


Why does culture develop? The mind? What are the reasons? What is the cause for this innovation that will fundamentally change the world of the human species? How did the brain become the basis of the human mind through a functional change?

The second question: What is new? How can we specifically describe the new issues that arise? In his review of Tomasello’s book The Origins of Human Communication, Jürgen Habermas writes:

After the increases in size of the human brain had stopped, cultural learning processes replaced genetic adaptation. What other animal species lack is the transfer of symbolically stored knowledge from generation to generation, such that it can be revised and expanded in the light of new experiences.
(Jürgen Habermas 2009; Es beginnt mit dem Zeigefinger, in: DIE ZEIT No. 51/2009 of 10 December 2009, p. 45)

Continue reading “264”