ABSTRACT

Because humans are evolved great apes, cladistic analysis (analyzed in Chapter 12) can gives us insight into the pre-adaptations (traits of the great-ape line that evolved as a by-product of Darwinian evolution), traits that were selected for to facilitate adaptations of hominins to new ecological niches, and behavioral propensities of hominins and then humans that follow from their primate ancestry and from the unique conditions imposed by the African savanna on hominin evolution. The result of this ability to gain information along these lines allows for social and biological sciences to make more informed and precise statements about the nature of human nature.