Human Prehistory
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Summary
In his new book The Prehistory of Humanity, Kim Sterelny, professor of philosophy at the Australian National University and a leading authority on the philosophy of biology, takes "cultural tools" and "social contracts" as his core themes, breaks with the traditional framework of a single innovative evolutionary breakthrough, and uses interdisciplinary research to reveal the evolutionary logic by which humans moved from the divergence of ape and human lineages to the construction of complex social systems.
The book argues that human evolution arose from a positive feedback loop formed by subtle differences such as bipedal walking and cultural learning; that the mechanisms of cooperation passed through four revolutions—the founding of primitive cooperation, the formation of reciprocal norms, the breakthrough of cross-group collaboration, and the birth of hierarchical societies; and that the interaction of "cultural learning—cooperation—norms" drove humans beyond the social limits of animals. Drawing on cases from biology, archaeology, and other fields, Sterelny answers the ultimate question of "how we became an advanced social animal," overturning traditional views such as the "tool theory" and "linguistic determinism" while analyzing, from the perspective of evolutionary history, the deep roots of cooperation and inequality in modern society, offering an interdisciplinary intellectual feast for understanding human nature, society, and civilization.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Popular science readers interested in the origins and evolution of human sociality
- University students taking courses in biology, archaeology, or philosophy
- Social science researchers focused on cooperation mechanisms and the origins of institutions
- Readers who wish to understand modern social collaboration and inequality from an evolutionary perspective
Not a good fit for
- Casual readers seeking only light, entertaining stories about human evolution
- Professionals expecting field archaeology excavation methods and technical details
- Practitioners seeking immediately actionable management or collaboration guides
Reading tips
- Begin with the introduction to grasp the main thread of "cultural learning—cooperation—norms," then move on to the chapters on the four cooperation revolutions.
- When encountering interdisciplinary cases, there is no need to memorize each one; focus on how the cases support the argument's logic.
- Read alongside basic popular science books on human evolution to lower the barrier of interdisciplinary terminology.
- After finishing, use a single page to restate the author's key criticisms of the tool hypothesis and linguistic determinism.
About the publisher
Zhejiang Science and Technology Publishing House is a comprehensive science and technology publisher known for academic monographs, applied technology titles and popular science books, with a focus on three areas: scholarship, popular science and science education. Judging from the books in the catalog, its publishing covers popular science, medicine, management, social psychology, Eastern philosophy and personal finance. It publishes works by overseas authors such as Douglas Hofstadter, Atul Gawande and Carlota Perez alongside Chinese writers including Liu Jian, Hu Hai, Wang Yifang and Peng Xiaohua. Representative titles include Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, Being Mortal, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, A Short History of the Human Body (full-color illustrated edition), and Gawande's Better and Complications, spanning cognitive science, medical humanities and the social dimensions of technology. Its distinctive approach is to connect scholarship and the general reader through popular science, valuing both ideas and readability. As public information is limited, this profile is drawn only from the books in the catalog.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 前言 穿越258万年，重新审视更新世“社会契约”
- 第1章 文化工具：古人类的合作密码
- 考古证据：重构古人类的生活拼图
- 文化工具的双重使命：合作与防欺骗
- 人猿分叉：从基因相似到文化歧异
- 学习革命：古人类的“步步高升”之路
- 累积的微小步伐：基本技能的形成与代际传递
- 文化学习的实现：从可能到必然的突破
- 回顾：文化，演化的第二引擎
- 第2章 更新世社会契约：合作的演化基石
- 搭便车者困境：合作的最大威胁
- 不平等厌恶：公平感的生存意义
- 互惠经济：原始社会的隐形规则
- 互惠的三大支柱之流言
- 互惠的三大支柱之规范
- 互惠的三大支柱之仪式
- 稳定合作：从小圈子到大群体的跨越
- 第3章 超越部落：更大世界的合作
- 跨群体联盟：信任的跨族群建立
- 开放社会起源：冲突与融合的博弈
- 合作的代价与馈赠：矛盾推动演化
- 选择的博弈：个体、群体与文化的角力
- 第4章 等级与共存：不平等的合作悖论
- 农业革命：等级制度的诞生时刻
- 不平等世界：剥削与依存的平衡术
- 信仰的力量：宗教如何固化结构
- 冲突与等级：秩序与混乱的共生
- 结语 人类何以成为人类
- 参考文献
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About the author
Kim Sterelny, born in 1950, is an Australian philosopher whose main research interests are the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of mind, and human evolution. His academic work spans philosophy and the life sciences, with particular attention to understanding the formation of the human mind and behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Beyond his specialist philosophical writing, he has also written for general readers the popular science book The Human Prehistory, bringing discussions of human evolution to a wider readership. As far as Chinese-language book materials are concerned, publicly available information about him is limited; only one of his works is currently included in the database, commonly classified as popular science. This work shows that he is skilled at combining philosophical questions with human origins and the course of evolution, and that his writing balances scholarly rigor with readability, making it suitable for readers interested in the mind, human nature, and the origins of humanity.
Chen Fuqiang is an author about whom little public information is currently available; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly documented. Within the library's holdings, he is represented by a single work, Prehistory of Humankind, which is classified as popular science. Judging from its title, the book concerns the origins and early evolution of humans, placing it in the genre of prehistoric and anthropological writing for general readers. Popular science of this kind typically requires the author to organize archaeological findings and evolutionary theory while translating specialized knowledge into a narrative accessible to ordinary readers, maintaining scientific rigor while remaining readable and engaging. Because verifiable personal details are so scarce, any assessment of his writing style and influence must rest on this one work, and it is difficult to judge his overall output. What can be said is that he entered popular science writing with a single book focused on where humanity came from, a theme consistent with common directions in science popularization. Readers seeking to understand his scholarly stance and writing characteristics would need to consult the contents of Prehistory of Humankind itself.
