The Unpredictable Species: What Makes Humans Unique
Puzzled by patterns of human culture, evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker and Dennis Dutton started looking at genes. But Lieberman rejects their logic of genetic determinism, arguing that far from binding us to DNA-driven behavioral scripts, our species’ improbable evolutionary history has given us a biologically unique creative freedom. Delving deep into evolutionary and neurological research, Lieberman adduces evidence that pivotal mutations transformed the human brain, endowing Homo sapiens with a capacity for unscripted innovation not found among the Neanderthals they displaced. Though readers see how this capacity revolutionized the making of stone tools and the hunting of large game, Lieberman focuses especially on the unique freedom evident in human language, rejecting as untenable Noam Chomsky’s theory of an innate universal grammar. Some readers may wonder why Lieberman justifies his rejection of genetic determinism with the empirical science of genetic mutations, entirely ignoring the metaphysical tradition of mind and spirit. But what reader can resist this compelling invitation to reflect on what it means to be human? --Bryce Christensen