Comments on Michael Tomasello's Arc of Inquiry (1999-2019) Part 1

From 1999 to 2019, Dr. Michael Tomasello, then Co-Director of the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, publishes five books on human evolution: (A) The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition (1999), (B) Origins of Human Communication (2008), (C) A Natural History of Human Thinking (2014), (D) A Natural History of Human Morality (2016) and (E) Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny (2019). In doing so, Tomasello's defines an arc of inquiry offers hypotheses on human evolution. These hypotheses cannot be ignored.
The same can be said for the literary figure, Razie Mah, who publishes three books on human evolution: The Human Niche (2018), An Archaeology of the Fall (2012) and How To Define The Word "Religion" (2015).
Tomasello approaches human evolution from the vantage point of developmental psychology.
Razie Mah approaches human evolution from the vantage point of semiotics (and, more generally, the categories of Charles Peirce).
This commentary examines Tomasello's argument from Mah's semiotic standpoint, producing a far more evocative and nuanced conceptualization of human evolution and psychology. Each of Tomasello's books benefits from commentary.
The commentary is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains A-C. Part 2 covers D-E.
Portions of this commentary appear in Razie Mah's blog for the months of January, February and March 2024. This commentary brings these blogs into one location and adds more material at the end.

Dettagli