Primate origins,human origins,and the end of higher taxa |
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| Authors: | Matt Cartmill |
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| Institution: | 1. Matt Cartmill's early work developed the “visual predation theory” of early primate evolution that he proposed in his 1970 doctoral thesis from the University of Chicago. His subsequent writings and ongoing research include studies of primate morphology and phylogeny;2. the comparative anatomy of the eye, ear, and skull;3. theoretical systematics;4. the evolution of mammalian locomotor behavior and adaptations;5. the biological correlates of language, morality, and consciousness;6. and the history and philosophy of evolutionary science. He is the co‐author of textbooks of human anatomy (Human Structure, 1987) and paleoanthropology (The Human Lineage, 2009), and the author of the award‐winning history of ideas A View to a Death in the Morning (1993). He currently serves on the faculty of Boston University and the emeritus faculty of Duke University. |
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| Abstract: | When people learn that I study human evolution and we start talking about it, they sometimes ask me, “How long ago did the first humans live?” My answer is usually another question: “What do you mean by 'humans'?” That response seems as baffling and wrong‐headed to them as their question seems to me, and it usually takes us a while to straighten things out. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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