Technology led to more abstract causal reasoning
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Technology led to more abstract causal reasoning Peter Gärdenfors1,2,3 · Marlize Lombard2,3 Received: 14 November 2019 / Accepted: 25 June 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Many animal species use tools, but human technical engagement is more complex. We argue that there is coevolution between technical engagement (the manufactur‑ ing and use of tools) and advanced forms of causal cognition in the human (Homo) lineage. As an analytic tool, we present a classification of different forms of causal thinking. Human causal thinking has become detached from space and time, so that instead of just reacting to perceptual input, our minds can simulate actions and forces and their causal consequences. Our main thesis is that, unlike the situation for other primate species, an increasing emphasis on technical engagement made some hominins capable of reasoning about the forces involved in causal processes. This thesis is supported in three ways: (1) We compare the casual thinking about forces of hominins with that of other primates. (2) We analyze the causal thinking required for Stone Age hunting technologies such as throwing spears, bow hunting and the use of poisoned arrows, arguing that they may serve as examples of the expansion of casual cognition about forces. (3) We present neurophysiological results that indi‑ cate the facilitation of advanced causal thinking. Keywords Causal cognition · Stone tool technology · Hominins · Forces · Cognitive evolution · Stone napping · Cognitive archaeology
Humans have an exceptional relationship with technology In this article, we argue that there is coevolution between the manufacturing and use of tools and advanced forms of causal thinking. Human causal thinking has become increasingly abstract in the sense that it is detached from space and * Peter Gärdenfors [email protected] 1
Cognitive Science, Department of Philosophy, Lund University, 22100 Lund, Sweden
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Palaeo‑Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa
3
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
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time, so that instead of just reacting to perceptual input, our minds can simu‑ late, amongst other things, the forces involved in actions and other events and the causal consequences of such forces. Our main thesis is that, unlike the situation for other primate species, tool production and use were one of the factors that stimulated the ability for these forms of reasoning in later hominins. Human relationships with technology are stronger than in any other species, and the manufacture and use of tools have become a defining characteristic of our species (Ambrose 2001; Barham 2013; Boivin 2008; Lombard 2016; Shea 2017). We extend our bodies, and by implication our minds, through the ‘prosthetic’ use of technology (Malafouris 2013), and by the understanding and application of the underlying a
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