The Evolution of Human Wisdom

(Hardback)

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This volume addresses key questions about the puzzle of human origins by focusing on a topic that is largely unexplored thus far, namely, the evolution of human wisdom. How can we best understand the human capacity for wisdom, where did it come from, and how did it emerge It explores lines of convergence and divergence between Christian theology and evolutionary anthropology in its search to identify different aspects of wisdom. Critical to this discussion are the philosophical difficulties that arise when two very different methodological approaches to the manner of humans becoming wise are brought together. The relative importance and significance of human language is another area of intense debate in defining the meaning of wisdom and its expression. How far and to what extent does a theologically informed wisdom discourse push evolutionary anthropology to formulate new questions and vice versa This volume shows that there is no simple consonance between evolutionary anthropology and theology. Yet, each discipline has much to learn from the other; the authors are in agreement that even in the midst of an awareness of dissonance and some tension, there can still be mutual respect. The goal of this book is to begin to develop a trans-disciplinary approach to the evolution of human wisdom, where each discipline is challenged to ask questions in a new way. This volume tackles the relationship between theology and science in a fresh way by focusing on a specific themewisdomthat is equally generative for both theology and evolutionary anthropology.

Reviews

The Evolution of Human Wisdomis an informed engagement with one of the great questions of our timea question I doubt will ever be answered, in part because we dont know how to ask it. The contributors, fortunately, seem to recognize this and, for the most part, maintain a consistently open, exploratory, tentative, and even humble tone. The invitation to the conversation is wide open. * Reading Religion *
Seldom are books on wisdom as wise or cogently argued as Celia Deane-Drummond and Augustin Fuentes splendid new collected volume. Their interdisciplinary inquiry will be an invaluable resource for scholar and student alike interested in the evolutionary origins of human wisdom, both secular and sacred. -- William O'Neill, Santa Clara University
Homo sapiens may have evolved, but what about human sapientia or wisdom Can we explain how it emerged from biological evolution The Evolution of Human Wisdom takes up this challenge. Contributors agree that wisdom requires intelligence and language. They all insist, however, that wisdom is much more than cleverness. It is something deeply human, coming into existence and making possible the complex totality of our creative interactions with nature, technology, and society. Wisdom arises within our evolution and affects its course, both in the shrouded past and the uncharted future. The Evolution of Human Wisdom is intelligent, informed, creative . . . in a word, wise. -- Ron Cole-Turner, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Author Bio

Celia Deane-Drummond is professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. Agustn Fuentes is professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.