Evolving Bodies: A fascinating experimental process
Recent scientific discoveries have shown that human evolution was not an inevitable progress towards Homo sapiens but a story of diversity with many ramifications that has lasted until very recently. Forty thousand years ago there still coexisted on our planet at least five different human species whose bodies and brains were different from ours. Each of the species in this evolutionary ‘bush’ has explored various adaptive approaches, and the bodies of our cousins and ancestors—some of them as small as Pygmies, others as tall and slender as Watusis—displayed surprisingly unique characters. All of this shows that there have been many different ways of being human, and that the African body of Homo sapiens is but the latest, and unquestionably successful, outcome of a long experimentation process.
Telmo Pievani (1970) is professor of Philosophy of Science at Milan’s Bicocca University, where he coordinates the degree course in Education Sciences. He regularly contributes to ‘Il Corriere della Sera’ and to the magazines ‘Le Scienze,’ ‘Micromega’ and ‘L’Indice dei libri’. He has written a number of scientific papers. Among his latest books are: Homo sapiens e altre catastrofi (Meltemi 2002); Introduzione alla filosofia della biologia (Laterza,2005); Creazione senza Dio (Einaudi 2006); La teoria dell’evoluzione (il Mulino 2006); In difesa di Darwin (Bompiani 2007); Sante Ragioni (Chiarelettere 2007, with C. Castellacci); Nati per credere (Codice Edizioni 2008, with V. Girotto, G. Vallortigara); Perché siamo parenti delle galline? E tante altre domande sull’evoluzione (Editoriale Scienza 2010, with F. Taddia); La vita inaspettata (Raffaello Cortina 2011).