Origins and Evolution of Human Culture

The Evolution of Human Culture

Human culture began to develop from first and second-order instrumental functions. Homo habilis was able to overcome the instrumental function of the second order when they first manufactured instruments with an adaptive purpose to facilitate survival. When survival is assured, cultural manifestations appear and begin to develop adaptive behavioral patterns—religious, social, or artistic (such as when they begin to bury the dead or paint in caves). With the passage of time and due to cultural complexity, Edward B. Taylor proposed the following definition of culture as a whole of human productions, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, and any habits or abilities acquired by the human being as a member of society.

Humanization and Hominization

Hominization: These are the morphological changes that occur throughout evolution and lead the human species to become a distinct and perfectly finished species. Humanization: The process by which man becomes a creator of culture, transforming the environment according to our interests. All animals maintain behavioral patterns and adaptations determined by the same instincts (genetically established patterns of behavior, innate, unchanging, and common); otherwise, conduct is acquired. Human beings in this matter have evolved considerably toward richer and more differentiated lifestyles. This process is slow at first, but at the same time, it moves faster. The conclusion is that human nature is no longer only animal nature, but a combination of nature and culture.

Culture and the Use of Instruments

Culture and the Use of Instruments: This is a learned action through which we transform the media to achieve a better adjustment or satisfaction, which is faster and increasingly powerful. The use of instruments is considered one of the leading cultural events, as we transform a natural object and grant it a function that it does not have in nature. It was thought that the use of instruments was exclusive to humans, but when ethology (the science that studies animal behavior) emerged, it showed that some animals also used them.

• Instrumental function of the first order: The capacity to use instruments but not to manufacture them.
• Instrumental function of the second order: The capacity to manufacture instruments using another (exclusive to humans).