capacities to have sprung up in such a short (in evolutionary terms)
period of time would be remarkable enough.That several unconnected
capacities of this magnitude could have emerged in the same period is
something entirely beyond belief.This clearly states the possibility that
just one of these capacities was the original starting agent and that it,
whether it was language,intelligence,or behavioral plasticity,triggered
the rest.Of course that would not preclude the possibility that some
capacities were rooted in the behaviors of antecedent species and were
merely enhanced,rather than initiated,by the master capacity.
Disentangling the intricate knot of hominization will require skills
drawn from every branch of human study,and musicologists have a sig-
nificant role to play in that disentangling.All of us,however,should bear
in mind the existence of the following paradox.Humans differ radically
from all other animals but were produced,like all other animals,by
processes of evolution.In the history of human thought,many attempted
to escape this paradox by denying one or other of the propositions that
compose it.Until this century,denial of the second part was the com-
monest response (and one maintained by fundamentalists of several reli-
gions).More recently,denial of the first part has gained in popularity,
especially among students of evolution.
There’s nothing special about humans,we are assured;we are in fact
a unique species,but then so is every other species.It is assumed,counter
to fact,that to insist on the first part of the paradox can only be the sign
of some hidden theological agenda.
Unfortunately,the paradox cannot be resolved so simplistically.Both
halves of it are true,and all researchers into human evolution should
repeat both halves every morning before they start work.For we will not
arrive at a true account of how we came to be human unless we succeed
in resolving the paradox and in showing by what processes evolution
could have produced people like ourselves.References
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