This volume addresses key questions about the puzzle of human origins by focusing on a topic that is largely unexplored thus far, namely, the evolution of human wisdom. How can we best understand the human capacity for wisdom, where did it come from, and how did it emerge? It explores lines of convergence and divergence between Christian theology and evolutionary anthropology in its search to identify different aspects of wisdom. Critical to this discussion are the philosophical difficulties that arise when two very different methodological approaches to the manner of humans becoming wise are brought together. The relative importance and significance of human language is another area of intense debate in defining the meaning of wisdom and its expression. How far and to what extent does a theologically informed wisdom discourse push evolutionary anthropology to formulate new questions and vice versa? This volume shows that there is no simple consonance between evolutionary anthropology and theology. Yet, each discipline has much to learn from the other; the authors are in agreement that even in the midst of an awareness of dissonance and some tension, there can still be mutual respect. The goal of this book is to begin to develop a trans-disciplinary approach to the evolution of human wisdom, where each discipline is challenged to ask questions in a new way. This volume tackles the relationship between theology and science in a fresh way by focusing on a specific theme-wisdom-that is equally generative for both theology and evolutionary anthropology.
Introduction by Celia Deane-Drummond and Agustin Fuentes Prologue: Philosophical Parameters Chapter 1: The Human as World-Open Spirit: An Exploration into Philosophical Anthropology and the Foundations of Human Wisdom by Dylan Belton Part I: Signs in Evolutionary Anthropology Chapter 2: What Can Anthropology Say about the Evolution of Human Wisdom? by Marc Kissel Chapter 3: In the Minds of Others by Marcus Baynes-Rock Part II: Evolving Homespun Wisdom Chapter 4: Growing Wisdom by Ben Campbell Chapter 5: Homo Sapiens Sapiens: The Human as Homemaker by Julia Feder Part III: The Wisdom of Speech Chapter 6: Speaking Truthfully: A Thomistic Perspective on the Peculiar Origins of Human Language by Stewart Clem Chapter 7: Precursors to Explanations of Action: Collective Intentionality and the Wisdom of Early Childhood by Craig Iffland Part IV: Evolving Wisdom as Virtue Chapter 8: Change and Constancy in the Nature of Wisdom over Time by Adam Willows Chapter 9: Practical Wisdom in the Making: A Theological Approach to Early Hominin Evolution in Conversation with Modern Jewish Philosophy by Celia Deane-Drummond Epilogue: Questions and Puzzles in Evolutionary Anthropology Chapter 10: Manipulating Materials, Bodies, and Signs: How the Ecology of Creative Problem Solving, Tool Manufacture, and Imaginative Sociality Set the Context for Language in the Later Pleistocene Human Niche by Agustin Fuentes
