Inquiry Into the Origin of Humanity
Inquiry Into the Origin of Humanity

Author: Tsung-mi

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1995-10-01

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780824817640

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¿A superb book ... one clearly designed for practical use.¿ ¿Buddhist Studies Review 14 (1997) ¿Gregory¿s work serves as a model for future scholars wishing to present translations of key East Asian Buddhist texts to a broader audience.¿ ¿Philosophy East and West 48 (1998) ¿Ein wertvoller Beitrag als vollstSndige ¿bersetzung, als Erkenntnisquelle Yber den chinesischen Buddhismus fYr Interessierte und als Lehrmaterial fYr diejenigen, die ihn lehren mYssen.¿ ¿Monumenta Serica 45 (1997) ¿Peter Gregory¿s is a name that I as a layman (vis-a-vis academia) am always happy to see attached to a text as I feel confident that the work will be of genuine interest and that my understanding will be limited only by my knowledge, rather than by my ability to penetrate a forest of jargon, obscure theorizing and convoluted writing.¿ ¿Buddhism Now, November 1996 ¿Gregory¿s translation is a truly remarkable accomplishment reflecting his superb command of literary Chinese and his thorough familiarity with the relevant scholarly literature on Chinese thought in Western languages.¿ ¿Stanley Weinstein, professor of Buddhist Studies, Yale University

On the Origins of Human Emotions
On the Origins of Human Emotions

Author: Jonathan Turner

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2000-06-01

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 0804764360

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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. The challenge for natural selection was to enhance traits in the species that would foster the social ties necessary for survival in the new environment. The author suggests that the result was a development of certain areas of the primate brain that encouraged strong emotional ties, allowing our ancestors to build higher levels of social solidarity. Our basic neurological wiring continues to reflect this adaptive development. From a sociological perspective that is informed by evolutionary biology, primatology, and neurology, the book examines the current neurological bases of our emotional repertoire and their implications for our social actions.

Zecharia Sitchin and the Extraterrestrial Origins of Humanity
Zecharia Sitchin and the Extraterrestrial Origins of Humanity

Author: M. J. Evans

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-05-17

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1591432561

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An in-depth analysis of Sitchin’s revelations about the Anunnaki, early humanity, and Earth’s future • Examines Sitchin’s research into the Anunnaki arrival on Earth, the lineage of the Nefilim, their space travel technology, and their creation of modern humans • Written by longtime Sitchin friend and colleague M. J. Evans, Ph.D., and draws upon her research and personal discussions with Sitchin • Explores the lust and lovemaking relationships of the Nefilim and suggests we inherited our warlike and love making tendencies from them Known for his provocative interpretations of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian clay tablets, Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010) read the words of our most ancient ancestors as fact and, through decades of meticulous research, showed that these ancient tablets revealed a coherent narrative about the extraterrestrial inhabitants of Earth and the origins of modern humanity. Drawing upon her many conversations with Zecharia Sitchin over nearly 20 years, M. J. Evans, Ph.D., longtime Sitchin friend and colleague, provides an in-depth analysis of Sitchin’s revelations about the Anunnaki, focusing on Anunnaki activities on Earth and Earth’s future. She explores the genesis of Sitchin’s interest in the Nefilim, the leaders of the Anunnaki, and the controversy caused by the publication of Sitchin’s first book, The 12th Planet. She examines Sitchin’s research into the Nefilim family tree, the Anunnaki arrival on Earth to mine gold to repair the atmosphere on their planet, Nibiru, and their creation of modern humans as workers for their mines and to build their civilization on Earth. She shows how, in the context of 21st-century technological capabilities, Sitchin’s work casts a different light on ancient events, with implications for our future. The author reveals the details of the love and lust proclivities of the Nefilim gods Anu, Enlil, and Enki and the goddess Ishtar/Inanna and shows how we inherited these tendencies from our Anunnaki creators as well as their use of war for problem solving. Concluding with an examination of Sitchin’s prediction of a nuclear event on Earth in our modern era, she shows how we would be repeating the aggressive warlike behaviors of our Anunnaki creators, who may very well become our saviors when Nibiru next returns to our solar system.

The Evolution of Evil
The Evolution of Evil

Author: Timothy Anders

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13:

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For all its beauty and splendor, the world is replete with suffering, hardship, and misery. Why does evil exist? Is evil necessary? Can we ever hope to abolish evil? Philosophers, theologians, scientists, and laypeople have often pondered these questions, but their answers have generally been unconvincing or unhelpful. They have sometimes tried vainly to show that all evil is really for the best, and sometimes to dismiss the problem of evil as too profound to be answered. In The Evolution of Evil, Timothy Anders offers an original and persuasive solution to the 'Problem of Evil, ' one that is grounded in science. According to Anders, the root of all human suffering, and hence of all evil, is to be found in the historical process by which human life was created: evolution by natural selection. The compelling simplicity of this explanation has been overlooked because of several widely-held misconceptions, notably the view that evolution favors the good and eliminates the bad, or that evolution favors an inexorable ascent to 'higher, ' more intelligent, and more complex forms. At the heart of these misconceptions lie prejudices such as anthropocentrism -- the view that humankind is the 'point' of the universe, and that things therefore tend to be arranged for humanity's benefit; the assumption that nature is essentially benevolent toward humans; and political utopianism, which proclaims that it is possible to bring about a perfect or nearly perfect society. Anders exposes the roots of evil in humankind's biological background, showing that evolution is not benevolent or progressive, and that it tends to lead to suffering which can sometimes be mitigated but never entirely banished. Ourprimate ancestry has left us with many 'scars of evolution, ' inefficient components which lead to pain and disappointment. Anders shows that humans are especially poorly adapted to their environment. The fact that they rely heavily on culture and intelligence is not an unmixed blessing.

Deep History
Deep History

Author: Andrew Shryock

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2011-11-07

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 0520270282

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This breakthrough book brings science into history to offer a dazzling new vision of humanity across time. Team-written by leading experts in a variety of fields, it maps events, cultures, and eras across millions of years to present a new scale for understanding the human body, energy and ecosystems, language, food, kinship, migration, and more.

Studying Human Origins
Studying Human Origins

Author: Raymond Corbey

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9789053564646

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This history of human origin studies covers a wide range of disciplines. This important new study analyses a number of key episodes from palaeolithic archaeology, palaeoanthropology, primatology and evolutionary theory in terms of various ideas on how one should go about such reconstructions and what, if any, the uses of such historiographical exercises can be for current research in these disciplines. Their carefully argued point is that studying the history of palaeoanthropological thinking about the past can enhance the quality of current research on human origins. The main issues in the present volume are the uses of disciplinary history in terms of present-day research concerns, the relative weight of cultural and other 'external' contexts, and continuity and change in theoretical perspectives. The book's overall approach is an epistemological one. It does not, in other words, primarily address anthropological data as such, but our ways of handling such data in terms of our most fundamental, but usually quite implicit theoretical presuppositions.

Lone Survivors
Lone Survivors

Author: Chris Stringer

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2012-03-13

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1429973447

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A top researcher proposes a controversial new theory of human evolution in a book “combining the thrill of a novel with a remarkable depth of perspective” (Nature). In this groundbreaking and engaging work of science, world-renowned paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer sets out a new theory of humanity’s origin, challenging both the multiregionalists (who hold that modern humans developed from ancient ancestors in different parts of the world) and his own “out of Africa” theory, which maintains that humans emerged rapidly in one small part of Africa and then spread to replace all other humans within and outside the continent. Stringer’s new theory, based on archeological and genetic evidence, holds that distinct humans coexisted and competed across the African continent—exchanging genes, tools, and behavioral strategies. Stringer draws on analyses of old and new fossils from around the world, DNA studies of Neanderthals (using the full genome map) and other species, and recent archeological digs to unveil his new theory. He shows how the most sensational recent fossil findings fit with his model, and he questions previous concepts (including his own) of modernity and how it evolved. With photographs included, Lone Survivors will be the definitive account of who and what we were—and will change perceptions about our origins and about what it means to be human. “An essential book for anyone interested in psychology, sociology, anthropology, human evolution, or the scientific process.” —Library Journal “Highlights just how many tantalizing discoveries and analytical advances have enriched the field in recent years.” —Literary Review

Neanderthal Man
Neanderthal Man

Author: Svante PŠŠbo

Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)

Published: 2014-02-11

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0465020836

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An influential geneticist traces his investigation into the genes of humanity's closest evolutionary relatives, explaining what his sequencing of the Neanderthal genome has revealed about their extinction and the origins of modern humans.