Page 7 - C.A.L.L. #34 - Winter 2011/2012

I am a Darwinian. The theory of evolution is the central focus of my thinking and

research concerning human origins and behavior. I am also an anthropologist. My field
is the science of man. This science, at least in the United States,
has always maintained a dual focus: that of biology and of social
science. Anthropologists have consistently held the point of view
that, although man is a unique species, he can be understood only
within the context of nature. This involves the study of human
origins from primate ancestors, the emergence of man as a unique,
culture-bearing species, and an understanding of the varied
patterns of behavior which have been documented by ethnologists (those who study
living societies around the world) throughout the past hundred years or so of modern

anthropology.

Few would deny that something like drives exists in man. What
is usually argued is what drives are specific to man. Hunger,
thirst, sex, and the need for sleep appear to be acceptable to
everyone. More in doubt are drives for power, territory,
aggression, and creativity.

Here I should like to introduce a distinction between a drive, which is deterministic
only in a very loose sense, and capacity for behavior, which is even less deterministic.
I would say that humans are born with capacities for aggression, territoriality,
creativity, as well as many other types of behavior. The occurrence or nonoccurrence

of such behavior in any individual or in any group, however, will depend upon a
combination of hereditary factors and learning. The form that such behavior would
take will also be patterned by the culture in which an
individual is socialized.

If human beings in general have a capacity for aggressive
behavior, they also have a capacity for tightrope walking
and juggling. (How good a circus performer one might
become is probably a function of inborn ability, motivation,
and the unfolding of ability through arduous training.) If this is the case, I think one

can see how vapid the concept of aggression becomes when an anthropologist
attempts to say something important about the social behavior of a specific group.
Nothing is automatic about such behavior. In fact, the only evidences of specific
automatic behavior in man are simple reflexes such as the knee jerk; the more
complex response of an infant to pressure on the cheek, which causes it to turn
toward the stimulus and begin sucking; and the (perhaps instinctual) fear of falling
which a baby expresses.

Anthropologists realized long ago that purely biological explanations of human
behavior are inadequate. Our behavior is based on customs which develop in the
context of specific social and environmental conditions. While they do reflect the
fact that man ·like all other animals must adjust to the environment to survive,