pasthumannature

Pasthumannature is a neologism used in scholarly discussions to denote the study of past human nature or, more broadly, how conceptions of what it means to be human have varied across time. The term is sometimes written as past-human nature or past human nature and may be used across disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, philosophy, and history. It emphasizes that human nature is not a fixed essence but is reconstructed from historical and prehistorical evidence.

Scope and methods: It draws on paleoanthropology (fossil record, morphology), archaeology (material culture, symbolic behavior), genetics, cognitive archaeology (inference about cognition from artifacts), and comparative primatology. Researchers synthesize anatomical data, artefacts, language, symbolic systems, and ecological context to infer patterns of social organization, cooperation, aggression, tool use, and communication in past populations. The aim is to understand which aspects of behavior or cognition appear to be universal vs contingent on culture or environment.

Applications and debates: It informs debates about human nature's stability vs variability, the role of culture in shaping behavior, and how past contexts might illuminate present moral and political issues. It also serves as a critique of universalist claims in psychology or philosophy that claim a single human nature across cultures and eras.

Criticisms: The approach faces issues of limited and indirect data, preservation biases, and interpretive basing; retrospective reconstruction risks essentialism or presentism. Critics warn against overextending inferences from artifacts or fossils to psychological traits; proponents stress transparent methodology and explicit uncertainty.