On the uniqueness of humankind

Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung
Band 25
Schriftenreihe der Europäischen Akademie zur Erforschung
von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH
herausgegeben von Carl Friedrich Gethmann

On the Uniqueness
of Humankind
1 23
H.-R. Duncker · K. Prieß (eds)

Editor of the series
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Carl Friedrich Gethmann
Europäische Akademie GmbH
Wilhelmstraße 56, 53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany
Editors
Professor em. Dr. Dr. Hans-Rainer Duncker
Aulweg 123, 35385 Gießen, Germany
Dr. Kathrin Prieß
Editing
Friederike Wütscher
ISBN 3-540-23981-2 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York
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The Europäische Akademie
TheEuropäischeAkademiezurErforschungvonFolgenwissenschaftlich-technischer
Entwicklungen GmbH is concerned with the scientific study of consequences of
scientific and technological advance for the individual and social life and for
the natural environment. The Europäische Akademie intends to contribute
to a rational way of society of dealing with the consequences of scientific and
technological developments. This aim is mainly realised in the development of
recommendations for options to act, from the point of view of long-term societal
acceptance. The work of the Europäische Akademie mostly takes place in tempor-
ary interdisciplinary project groups, whose members are recognised scientists
from European universities. Overarching issues, e. g. from the fields of Techno-
logy Assessment or Ethic of Science, are dealt with by the staff of the Europäische
Akademie.
The Series
The series “Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung” (Ethics of Science
and Technology Assessment) serves to publish the results of the work of the Euro-
päische Akademie. It is published by the academy’s director. Besides the final
results of the project groups the series includes volumes on general questions of
ethics of science and technology assessment as well as other monographic studies.
Acknowledgement
This volume is based on the results of the conference “The Uniqueness of Hu-
mankind – Über die Sonderstellung des Menschen” which was organized by the
Europäische Akademie in cooperation with the Society of the Medical Faculty of
the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen and took place in March 2001.

Preface
The Europäische Akademie Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH is concerned with the
scientific study of the consequences of scientific and technological advance for the
individual, society and the natural environment and, therefore, not least with the study
of consequences of recent developments in life-sciences and medical disciplines. The
Europäische Akademie intends to contribute to find a rational way for society to deal
with the consequences of scientific progress.This aim is mainly realised by proposing
recommendations for options of action with long-term social acceptance. The work of
the Europäische Akademie mostly takes place in temporary interdisciplinary project
groups, whose members are recognised scientists from European universities and
other independent institutes.
Biological and philosophical anthropologies of the 20th
century keep emphasis-
ing the “Sonderstellung” of humans among the realm of living beings. However, it
is not clear how this particular role should be characterised, how it should be recon-
ciled with biological findings, and which theoretical and practical conclusions
should be drawn from it. Partly in opposition to these anthropological view on
humankind those biological disciplines, whose objects of research include human
beings, underline the extensive similarities and common characteristics between
humans and other species. Apparently, these biological findings concur with the
criticism of anthropocentrism, which is expressed in Western philosophy of nature
and by ethicists.
To discuss these issues the Europäische Akademie organized in cooperation with
the Medical Society Gießen the conference “The Uniqueness of Humankind – Über
die Sonderstellung des Menschen” that took place in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
from 28th
to 30th March 2001. The proceedings of the conference documented in
this volume approached the theoretical and practical concept of the “Sonderstel-
lung” against the background of present day knowledge in biosciences. Further-
more, by interdisciplinary efforts, an attempt was made to clarify those conceptual
problems that arise with the idea of the uniqueness of humankind.
The present volume partly takes up and develops further topics that have been
raised by the volume 15 “On Human Nature” that was published in 2002 in this
series. We hope that the present volume will find the same interest as the earlier vol-
ume.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, October 2004 Carl Friedrich Gethmann

Foreword
At present, those biological disciplines the research objects of which include human
beings, underline the extensive similarities and common characteristics between
humans and other species. Apparently, these biological findings join into the criticism
of anthropocentrism which is expressed by ethicists and in Western philosophy of
nature.
In contrast to this, biological and philosophical anthropologies of the 20th cen-
tury keep emphasising the “Sonderstellung” of humans among the realm of living
beings. However, it is not clear yet how this particular role should be characterised,
how it should be reconciled with biological findings, and which theoretical and
practical conclusions should be drawn from it. The aim of the conference “The
Uniqueness of Humankind” was to discuss the question of the human being’s
unique position. Participants came from Austria, Great Britain, The Netherlands,
Latvia, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, USA and Germany. By interdisciplinary
efforts it was tried to clarify conceptual problems arising with the idea of the
uniqueness of humankind within three sections:
– anthropology in a philosophical and biological view;
– the human being’s particular role against the background of recent biological
research;
– ethical and legal reflections on the particular position of the human being.
As a matter of fact, this book cannot present a final answer to the questions on
the “uniqueness” of humankind. However, we hope that by means of this collection
of papers we may provide an insight into various though controversial or even pro-
voking aspects of this discussion and initiate further interdisciplinary exchanges.
We would like to thank Professor Carl Friedrich Gethmann, the Europäische
Akademie and the Society of the Medical Faculty of the Justus-Liebig-University
of Gießen for providing the intellectual, organisational and financial framework for
the conference and for publishing this book. Furthermore, our acknowledgements
go to Dr. Eva Neumann-Held and to Dr. Dr. Mathias Gutmann for their valuable sci-
entific contributions during the preparation of the conference. Our special thanks
are also due to Dagmar Uhl, Heidemarie Zimmermann, and Margret Pauels for
their administrative and organisational support in organising the conference, and to
Friederike Wütscher for the editorial work in preparing the text for print.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and Gießen Hans-Rainer Duncker
Kathrin Prieß

List of Authors
Bateson, Patrick, Professor Sir, FRS. Professor of Ethology, the biological study of
behaviour, at the University of Cambridge (since 1984). He was Head of King’s
College, Cambridge from 1988 to 2003. He was formerly Director of the Sub-
Department of Animal Behaviour at Cambridge and later Head of the Department
of Zoology. He was Vice-Chairman of the Museums and Galleries Commission and
in 2004 was elected President of the Zoological Society of London. He was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1983 and was its Biological Secretary
and Vice-President from 1998 to 2003. He was knighted in 2003. His research is on
the behavioural development of animals, and much of his scientific career has been
concerned with bridging the gap between the studies of behaviour and those of
underlying mechanisms, focusing on the process of imprinting in birds. He has also
carried out research on behavioural development in mammals, particularly cats, and
has supervised field projects on mammals in East Africa. He conducted a research
project for the National Trust on the behavioural and physiological effects of hunt-
ing deer with hounds.
Duncker, Hans-Rainer, Professor Dr. Dr., since 1953 study of Biology and since
1955 also of Medicine in Hamburg, Tübingen, Kiel, Vienna and Kiel; 1964 Dr.
rer. nat. (Zoology, Anthropology and Anatomy) at the Christians-Albrechts-Uni-
versity Kiel; 1965 Final Medical State Examination, University of Hamburg;
1967 Dr. med. at the Medical Faculty of Hamburg; 1969 Venia legendi for
Anatomy, Medical Faculty of Hamburg; 1971 Full Professor of Anatomy, Medical
Faculty, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen; 2001 Professor emeritus, Justus-
Liebig-University Giessen. Main Fields of Research: Patterns and cytology of
extra-cutaneous pigmentations in reptiles, amphibians and fishes; Lung-air sac
system of birds; Evolution of the functional anatomy of the respiratory appara-
tusses from fish to mammals including the differentiations of coelomic body cav-
ity septations; Embryology of the respiratory systems in birds, mammals and
man; Morphometry and scaling relationships of body size and organ parameters
in vertebrates; Evolution of homoiothermy in birds and mammals; Evolution of
the ontogenetic modes in birds; Evolution of structural and functional complexity
in vertebrates; Evolutionary anthropology and the evolution of human languages
and cultural abilities.
Gethmann, Carl Friedrich, university Professor Dr. phil. habil., lic. phil. Studies
of philosophy at Bonn, Innsbruck and Bochum; 1968 lic. phil. (Institutum Philo-
sophicum Oenipontanum); 1971 doctorate Dr. phil. at the Ruhr-Universität
Bochum; 1978 Habilitation for philosophy at the University of Konstanz. 2003

honorary degree of doctor of philosophy (Dr. phil. h.c.) of the Humboldt-Univer-
sität Berlin. 1968 scientific assistant; 1972 Professor of Philosophy at the Uni-
versity of Essen; 1978 private lecturer at the University of Konstanz; since 1979
Professor for philosophy at the University of Essen; lectures at the Universities
of Essen and Göttingen. Called to the Board of Directors at the Akademie für
Technikfolgenabschätzung Baden-Württemberg combined with a full professor-
ship of Philosophy (1991, refused) and to full professorship at the universities of
Oldenburg (1990, refused), Essen (1991, accepted), Konstanz (1993, refused)
and Bonn (1995, refused). Since 1996 Director of the Europäische Akademie zur
Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen Bad Neue-
nahr-Ahrweiler GmbH (European academy for the study of the consequences of
scientific and technological advance). Member of the Academia Europaea (Lon-
don); member of the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften;
member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Halle); mem-
ber of the Bio-Ethikkommission des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz; main fields of
research: linguistic philosophy/philosophy of logic; phenomenology and practi-
cal philosophy (ethics of medicine/ethics of environment/technology assess-
ment).
Müller-Terpitz, Ralf, Dr. iur. Studies of law at the Universities of Bonn and Geneva
from 1987 till 1992. In 1994, he completed his thesis on the “Participation of the
German Federal Council (Bundesrat) in European Union matters”. Afterwards, he
absolved a practical training in judicial affairs in Cologne and NewYork. Following
the bar exam in 1996, he worked in the legal department of a German telecommu-
nications company in Düsseldorf. Since 1998, he is research assistent to Professor
Dr. Wolfgang Löwer at the University of Bonn, Institute of Public Law. His major
scientific focus lays on constitutional law, telecommunications and Internet law as
well as the law of biomedicine. In the latter context, he is just about to finish a
habilitation on the “Legal status of the unborn child in German constitutional and in
international law”.
Prieß, Kathrin, Dr. rer. nat., studied Biology and Applied Oceanography in
Berlin, Barcelona and Perpignan, where she graduated in 1992 (M ès Sc.). She
gained a PhD in Marine Environmental Sciences in 1997, under the auspices of
both the “Université de la Méditerranée” in Marseilles and the University Christian-
Albrecht of Kiel. For her work on growth variations of massive reef corals she
was awarded the Scientific Award of the Doctoral School “Environmental Sci-
ences – Earth System”. She did her post-doctoral research on coral reef ecology
at the Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille (1997–1998) and at the Interuniversity
Institute for Marine Sciences of Eilat/Tel Aviv University (1999). In 1998 she was
a Ramón y Cajal Scholar and EPTA co-ordinator in the Office for Scientific and
Technology Options Assessment (STOA, DG4) at the European Parliament in
Luxembourg. She was member of the scientific staff of the Europäische
Akademie Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH from November 1999 till March
2004. She has co-ordinated two project-groups “Biodiversity – scientific founda-
tions and social Relevance” and “Environmental standards low-dose effects and
their risk evaluation”.
List of AuthorsXII

Schwemmer, Oswald, Lic. phil. 1966, Dr. phil. 1970, Dr. phil. habil. 1975. Visit-
ing Professor at the Universities of Hamburg, Frankfurt, Göttingen, Aachen,
Augsburg, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Graz and the Emory University in Atlanta. Pro-
fessor for Philosophy at the Universities of Erlangen-Nürnberg (1978–1982),
Marburg (1982–1987), Düsseldorf (1987–1993) and since 1993 at the Humboldt-
University in Berlin. 1979–1982 Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute for the
Philosophy and History of Science at Erlangen. 1984/85 Senior Research Fellow
at the Center for Philosophy of Science of the University of Pittsburgh. Since
1991 Director of the German Edition of Ernst Cassirer’s unpublished manu-
scripts.
Valerius, Klaus-Peter, Dr. rer. nat. Dr. med. Following education in Berlin and fur-
ther studies in Göttingen and Giessen, he obtained his Dr. rer. nat. at Giessen, Ger-
many, where he analysed the evolution of the specifically human characteristics in
social organisation, cognitive abilities and sexual behavior, based on a comparison
between humans and apes. Another field of interest is the functional anatomy of the
bronchial system in mammals, which became the subject of his Dr. med. thesis in
Giessen and Göttingen, Germany. K.-P. Valerius now lives in Giessen and teaches
human anatomy for medical students. He is the author of several books on human
anatomy.
Vowinckel Gerhard, Dr. rer. pol., apl. Professor for Sociology at the University of
Hamburg and at Helmut Schmidt University of the German Armed Forces. Gerhard
Vowinckel studied sociology, political economy, psychology, and biology at Ham-
burg university (diploma 1973). He obtained his Ph. D. in 1978. His habilitation-
thesis (1983) dealt with the civilization of emotions and their physical expression,
combining historical-sociological analysis with approaches of biology and develop-
ment psychology. He was appointed Associate Professor at Hamburg University in
1998. Using biological, psychological, and sociological approaches in analyzing
phenomena of social and cultural history he has published on educational ideas, on
forms of military organisation, on the evolution of moral concepts, etc. (http://ger-
hardvowinckel.bei.t-online.de/gerhard.htm). Research interests: connecting biolog-
ical, psychological and sociological approaches to human behaviour, history and
social ecology of moral/political mentalities, emotions.
List of Authors XIII

Contents
Human as a Biological and Cultural Being
Hans Rainer Duncker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The “Exceptional Position” of the Human Being – a Moral-political Concept
Gerhard Vowinckel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Human: Between Having a World and Being a Self
Oswald Schwemmer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Social Structure, Sexuality, and Intelligence in Human Evolution – a Synopsis
Klaus-Peter Valerius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Genes, Instincts and Identity
Patrick Bateson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The Special Status of the Human Being as a Topic of Practical Philosophy
Carl Friedrich Gethmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The “Uniqueness” of the Human Being in Constitutional Law
Ralf Müller-Terpitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Human as a Biological and Cultural Being
Hans Rainer Duncker
Introduction
1
The present situation of the evolutionary biology of
modern humans
An understanding of the evolution of organisms on earth and especially of the phy-
logenetic development of modern mankind and its cultural history is strikingly lim-
ited by our one-way thinking, in which the disciplines of science and humanities
deal with these questions. Explaining only linear evolutionary developmental lines
of single distinct structural or functional features makes it impossible to acquire an
integration of a thinking in complex functional and hierarchical interrelationships.
However, these interrelationships are a basic feature of all organismic evolution and
human cultural developments. The present view of biological evolution is based on
the synthetic theory which combines Darwinian ideas of mutations and selection
with underlying molecular genetic mechanisms. Herein conceptions of linear alter-
ations of different structural or functional features are represented for the character-
ization of evolutionary developments. The large number of these mentioned linear
evolutionary lines, as put forth by the different disciplines, documents past evolu-
tion. But these descriptions are unable to comprehend the most characteristic fea-
ture of evolution: The consecutive appearance of new functional and structural
capabilities in evolving organisms by the interconnection of altered functional or
structural features into qualitatively new functions, resulting in constructions of
increasing hierarchies, which are responsible for the continuous emergence of qual-
itatively new functional and structural phenomena. These emerging phenomena are
the essential characteristics of evolution.
The striking lack in the present way of thinking and the interpretation within the
different disciplines, which are involved in evolutionary questions, is a conse-
quence of another general fault of these disciplines: They don’t deal with the spe-
cific connections and interrelationships of their investigated phenomena. They only
elaborate causal connections, which can be analysed experimentally, but not the
multiple functional interrelationships, which can only be investigated by compara-
tive system-analyses. The descriptions and interpretations of results are restricted to
an explanation of causal connections, and thereby an integration of new results into
the given multiple functional interrelationships of the organism is lacking. Espe-
cially missing is the demonstration of the specific functional importance of these
new causal relations for the development of new functional phenomena of the
organism, for its functional and structural evolution.

Viewing organismic evolution in this specific way modern humans have a large
number of structures and functions in common with many organisms and specially
with our nearest relatives, the anthropoid apes. This is the basis of expressing our
great reverence for all other creatures, together with whom we coexist and share this
earth within its biosphere. We devote special respect to our nearest relatives espe-
cially to the gorillas and chimpanzees, which have so many features in common
with us. But beyond this deep respect we also are responsible for a correct scientific
image, to describe and explain the specific differences, by which humans are distin-
guished from their relatives, defining which characters constitute the special posi-
tion of humans. This special position of modern humans depends, on the one hand,
on specific structural and functional developments of the human body, which
occurred during recent phylogeny of Homo sapiens sapiens. On this basis of the
specific anatomy and ontogeny of the human body the special position of mankind
is based on the other hand to a great extent on his social and cultural developments
and especially the development of languages, existing in more than six thousand
different cultural and linguistic communities. The importance of these specific
structures and functional abilities of the human body and their specifically altered
ontogenetic developments, upon which the social and cultural developments of
human communities depend, will be explained in detail.
2
The first basic mechanism in the evolution of organisms
2.1
The development of side effects of functional systems into new main
functions
To understand the specific evolutionary development of humans it is necessary to
describe two basic features of organismic evolution. First, the incredible richness
in the evolution of organisms is produced by the development of side effects of
their existing functional systems into new main functional purposes with newly
emerging functional phenomena. All the required functions of organisms main-
taining their existence, such as metabolism, interactions with the surrounding
environment, growth and reproduction, are performed by functional systems that
consist of a number of different elements. These elements are arranged in such a
functional and topographical order that their causal interactions fulfill the pur-
pose of the functional system, e.g. the synthesis of a specific amino acid, or the
absorption of photons by specific membrane-bound molecules for the photosyn-
thetic energy transfer, but also specific locomotory pattern for ventilating the
lungs or species-specific design of legs for special forms of running. This per-
formance of a functional purpose is strongly controlled by selection, because no
organism can survive, in which one of the essential numerous functional systems
does not work correctly. In this way even highly complex functional systems and
their multiple integrations into complicated functional structures are preserved
throughout evolution. One main characteristic feature of these functional systems
is the fact that in addition to the basic fulfillments of their specific purposes,
most of them comprise other functional properties based on their composition out
2 Hans Rainer Duncker

of rather complicated elements. These are at the cellular level often proteins
working as enzymes, or at the organ or organismic level certain functional or
structural elements as a lung ventilation mechanism or the structural and func-
tional design of legs. The additional functional properties of these system ele-
ments represent the side effects of single functional systems, which make up, for
instance as enzyme proteins, the properties of membrane systems and membrane
potentials, the osmotic concentration of the cytosol of the cell or the basic struc-
tural elements of a cytoskeleton. In the same way ventilatory motor pattern pos-
sess together with other functional developments the potential of becoming an
important part for the evolution of vocalization mechanisms, and specific leg
structures and movements can also be integrative elements for the digging of
holes (Duncker 2001).
The evolution of these side effects of existing functional systems into main or
primary functions of derived new functional systems is a very important mecha-
nism of evolutionary developments: This general evolutionary process occurs by
doubling or multiplication of parts of the genome, which is well documented by
recent molecular genetic investigations (Hennig 1995, Maynard Smith 1998). By
such a doubling one part of a genome with its genes controls precisely the origi-
nal functional system with its main functional purpose, whereas the genes of the
doubled part are subject to evolutionary change, by which the former side effect
is converted into a new functional purpose. This constitutes the step-by-step gen-
eration of new functional systems as well as their functional coupling into quite
new functional interrelationships. In this way the primary vertebrate branchial
basket for the ventilation of the gill pouches for gas exchange evolved succes-
sively by multiple steps in one functional line into the language production appa-
ratus of humans (Duncker 2001). Thus, throughout evolution continually qualita-
tively new functional and structural phenomena are emerging. In this way the
richness of different hierarchical levels of functional and structural systems are
generated, each one depending upon the underlying levels. These mechanisms are
responsible for one of the main characteristics of evolutionary developments from
bacteria to man, the progressive emergence of phenomenologically new functions
and structures.
3
The second basic mechanism of organismic evolution
3.1
The heterochronic modifications of ontogenetic developmental time
tables and time patterns
This second important evolutionary mechanism that is causing a great produc-
tiveness of the evolutionary process is made up by heterochronic changes of
ontogenetic developmental time tables of different organ systems (McKinney,
McNamara 1991, McNamara 1997, Minugh-Purvis, McNamara 2002). These
developmental changes are responsible for the emergence of a multiplicity of
different organismic forms and ecological interrelationships in the biosphere of
the earth, including the evolution of modern man. All cells, organs and organ-
Human as a Biological and Cultural Being 3

isms are determined in their growth and in the ontogenetic development of their
single functions and structures by developmental time tables for each of these
functional and structural elements. These developmental time tables have to be
adjusted one to another, so that the different functions, which depend recipro-
cally on one another to perform the general cellular, organ or organismic func-
tional needs, are functionally available at the proper time. These ontogenetic
developmental time tables are often determined by those ontogenetic develop-
mental processes that require the available time span as the necessary minimal
time for their development. The intensive reinvestigations of the problems of the
evolution of avian ontogenetic modes, which were primarily elaborated by Port-
mann (1936, 1938, 1939, 1954), have demonstrated the great importance of het-
erochronic changes of ontogenetic developments for the evolution of higher ver-
tebrates. The heterochronic alteration of the ontogenetic developmental time
tables of their organ systems is a general mechanisms of their evolutionary mod-
ifications and adaptations (Starck 1989, 1993, Starck & Rickleffs 1997, Duncker
1998a, 2000a).
The ontogenetic development of birds is characterized by the existence of two
remarkable features: First, the developmental processes of the different organ sys-
tems with their consecutive developmental steps are rigidly organized in all birds
independent of their special ontogenetic mode. Thus, all birds, from highly preco-
cious species to extremely altricial groups, possess the same general ontogenetic
time course for the development of their body. Second, however, the ontogenetic
differentiations of the various organ systems underlie extensive changes as far as
their detailed developmental time tables are concerned. These heterochronic devel-
opmental time-table changes result in totally new ontogenetic phenomena, such as
the emergence of altricial nestlings incapable of existing on their own and depend-
ing fully on intensive brood care (Starck 1989, 1993, Duncker 1998a, 2000a).
Compared to the precocious hatchlings of fowls, ducks and geese, which move
independently and feed alone after hatching, the ontogenetic developmental time
tables of a large number of organ systems in these altricial nestlings are drastically
altered. The development of feathers and the ossification of the skeleton are
strongly retarded according to the lack of movement in the nest and the close con-
tact and warming by the parents. The intestines are enormously extended for pro-
cessing a strongly increased amount of food for the drastically accelerated growth
rate. These changes together with the intensive brood care enabled a very special
time course for forebrain development: Without the necessity of own movements,
feeding, thermoregulation and selfprotection after hatching, the non-functioning
forebrain proliferates enormously for ten days, then for the next ten days it is con-
cerned with cellular differentiation and making neuronal interconnections, to be
imprinted in the last two nestling days in taking over the species-specific songs,
food and nesting behaviours. At fledging, these altricial birds have the comparable
locomotory and feeding abilities and independence like precocious hatchlings.
However, by virtue of their specific altricial postnatal ontogeny, they have devel-
oped a characteristically high degree of cerebralization, exceeding the forebrain
size of precocious birds by tenfold. This cerebralization is responsible for the
highly developed social structure of song birds and parakeets and their specializa-
tions in locomotion and feeding.

4
The consequences for the understanding of the evolution
of modern humankind
The described developments of side effects of existing functional systems into new
functional primary purposes and their integration into new and more complex func-
tional systems are one basic evolutionary mechanisms in the phylogeny of organ-
isms. These integrations are responsible for the generation of qualitatively new
functional and structural levels and abilities. As well, heterochronic changes of time
tables in the development of different organ structures and functional abilities result
in entirely new functional phenomena. These basic mechanisms are also the essen-
tial mechanisms for the origin of important structural and functional features of the
human body, which characterize the biological evolution of humans. This is also
true for the specific human ontogeny, from fetal development up to the end of post-
natal growth and puberty, even under the aspect that the evolution of mammalian
ontogenies started from very altricial newborns and proceeded to highly precocious
newborns in different mammalian orders such as ungulates and primates. In this
context the human newborn is a highly derived precocious young, very specifically
adapted to and depending on its long-term social and cultural development within
its own social community, as will be described later.
5
The biological evolution of modern humankind
5.1
The paleoanthropological time scale
According to general interpretation of paleoanthropology the evolution of modern
humans started with the australopithecines 3.5 million years ago (Henke, Rothe
1994, 1999, Conroy 1997, Tattersall 1997). They already possessed an upright,
bipedal mode of locomotion, preferentially on the ground, thereby extending their
area of living into the expanding savannahs of East Africa. In addition to their
upright body position, the australopithecines possessed the size and weight of pres-
ent-day chimpanzees. The evolution of humans is characterized by an increase in
body size and weight, shaping the appearance of the body of modern humans in a
very specific way. This evolution gave rise to some new species of Australopithecus
and later different species of Homo, some of whom attained remarkable body sizes.
Starting more than 1.5 million years ago some of the developing species of Homo
migrated out of Africa into the Eurasian continent in several waves and developed
into specific forms, which became extinct long ago. The last branches of this
human evolution are the Neanderthals and modern humans, two subspecies of
Homo sapiens, which have been developing independently from one another for at
least 500,000 to 600,000 years. They also migrated into Europe and Asia, probably
living for longer times in adjacent regions, but according to molecular genetic
investigations not interbreeding. The last Neanderthals became extinct about
35,000 years ago (Tattersall 1999). All living humans of all ethnic groups are mem-

bers of the species Homo sapiens sapiens, which also invaded Australia and the
American continent several 10,000 years ago.
5.2
The evolution of growth and size
To demonstrate the specific structures and functions of the body of modern
humans, we must depend on comparisons with the bodies of anthropoid apes, espe-
cially chimpanzees, who in many characteristics and dimensions resembled the
body of australopithecines, including brain size. The increase in body size towards
modern humans was attained in a very special way: Despite the fact that the birth-
weight of the human newborn exceeds that of a newborn chimpanzee by 160%,
both newborns possess identical lengths of the trunk and extremities (Portmann
1951, Duncker 1998b), even though the duration of intrauterine development in
humans is extended by about 16–20%, compared to chimpanzees (Duncker 1990,
1998b). Also the human growth curve is quite similar to that of chimpanzees up to
an age of six to eight years, when chimpanzees have reached adulthood. In humans
growth continues for many years, especially being accelerated at the specific
growth phase of puberty, ending beyond 15 to 20 years of age (v. Harnack 1990,
Uliijaszek et al. 1998). Whereas in chimpanzees the length of the trunk is doubled
during postnatal growth and that of the arms and legs by a factor of 1.7, in humans
trunk length increases 2.65 fold at birth, and 3.3 fold for arms, nearly 4 fold for legs
(Duncker 2000b). Beyond this remarkable increase in the trunk size as well as the
length of the arms and legs, the general construction of the human body, especially
the development of the waist demonstrates very special biomechanical conditions:
The waist is the constructional result of an independent swinging of the shoulder
girdle and pelvic girdle in opposite directions during walking and running, which is
an expression of a bioenergetically optimal performance for long duration walking
and running over long distances in savannah environments (Preuschoft, Witte 1993,
Witte et al. 1999, 2001).
5.3
The extension of life phases
This extended growth phase in humans is only one example of the numerous hete-
rochronic alterations in the different life stages of modern man. After the extended
duration of gravidity, the period of childhood and youth is prolonged up to the age
of 20 years. Adulthood and the reproductive period extend up to an age of at least
45 years, and continues into the human-specific grandparent period for another 20
years. Beyond populations living under extreme ecological conditions such as rein-
deer hunters in the ice age or eskimos in the arctic, grandparents have existed in all
ethnic and cultural groups (Ulijaszek et al. 1998). As a quite new development since
the second half of the last century in western technological societies, the fourth gen-
eration of senior citizens is experiencing a further 20 year extention of the human
life span, which, of course, also depends on substantial social and medical support
(Duncker 1998b). These human-specific periods of life determine very important
social functions for the different generations.

5.4
The prolongation of brain growth and increase of learning
capacities
Moreover, the long duration of childhood and youth determines the length of brain
growth, especially the growth and maturation of the cerebral cortex (Farber,
Njiokiktjien 1993, Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Duncker 1998b). In the same way the
period of life is extended, which is dominated by the acquisition of new locomotor
abilities, cultural-technical capacities, new languages and a vast amount of knowl-
edge about cultural-technical performances, which to a certain extent are prolonged
throughout the period of adulthood. One principal characteristic of the prolongation
of the human body growth period up to the end of puberty is the extended ability of
the locomotor system to acquire new patterns of movements, from technical han-
dlings up to artistic abilities, such as playing musical instruments (Duncker 1998b,
2000b). Beyond this growth period, these capacities for learning new motor pat-
terns diminish rapidly, whereas the acquisition of a vast amount of cultural knowl-
edge, the so-called neutral knowledge, is maintained throughout adulthood.
5.5
The special differentiation of the hands
In addition to the development of the overall form of the human body, its specific
dimensions and the construction of the trunk including the waist and the length of
the arms and legs, the human hand has undergone an amazing evolution (Wehr,
Weinmannn 1999, Wilson 2000). The mobility and flexibility of the single fingers
have been increased, especially the thumb, so that the tip of the thumb can be placed
into precise opposition to the tip of each of the other fingers, forming a tweezers-
like grip with all fingers. The musculature of the hand and fingers has evolved to
perform powerful as well as very precisely controlled movements by virtue of the
high content of neuromuscular spindles, a very unusual combination of physiologi-
cal features. Thus, a highly differentiated dexterity of the human hand has evolved,
but the fulfillment of this dexterity requires an extremely long time of training to
master all the skills associated with the hand: for example, playing with intricate
toys, managing the handling of a fork, knife and spoon or chopsticks, learning to
write, and numerous locomotor patterns, required for the manual performance of
different trades and crafts. All the craftsmen skills are traditionally learned during
the pubertal growth phase. After reaching adulthood, for most persons the ability to
learn new locomotor and behavioural patterns diminishes drastically.
5.6
The evolution of the language producing apparatus and development
of speaking
Another portion of the locomotor system that underwent a very special develop-
ment during human evolution, was the movement apparatus of the nose and mouth
together with pharynx and larynx, which performs primarily the in- and exhalation

of air and the intake and processing of food together with all the necessary control
functions. In mammals including apes and chimpanzees, this apparatus plays also
an important role in thermoregulation through the vascularized mucous membranes
of the nose, palate and tongue, and it is used for the innate vocalizations of the ani-
mals. The evolution of the nose-mouth-pharynx system towards modern humankind
includes the musculature of the lips, jaws, tongue, soft palate, pharynx, larynx and
vocal folds, which gain an exponentially increased movability and control by the
cerebral cortex. Macroscopically this evolution is characterized by an elongation of
the pharynx and a size reduction of the epiglottis, which in newborn humans still
possesses the size and position of the adult chimpanzee, approaching and lying on
the soft palate (Aiello, Dean 1990, Jones et al. 1992, Conroy 1997, Henke, Rothe
1999). The adult human condition is first attained by differential growth at the end
of the first year of life. The child then gradually acquires the ability of learning to
speak the language of its community. By the elongation of the pharyngeal region
and the reduction in the length of the epiglottis this apparatus is able to produce lan-
guage, using the highly differentiated muscular systems of the tongue, soft palate,
jaws and lips, pharynx, larynx and vocal folds, which are capable of extremely
rapid and precisely controlled movements. By virtue of these differentiated move-
ments the form of the upper respiratory channel, the vocalization tract, can be con-
tinuously changed during expiration, allowing the formation of the vowels and con-
sonants, dependent on the finely tuned air vibrations, which are superimposed on
the expiratory air flow as basic frequencies by the oscillations of the vocal folds.
However, this evolution of the upper respiratory tract for language production as a
secondary function goes hand in hand with the loss of its thermoregulatory func-
tion, which is so important in all other mammals including the anthropoid apes.
Additionally, beyond forming words and sentences for social communication of
distinctly factual information, human speech has the frequently underestimated func-
tion for communication of the emotional situations of the speaker and the emotional
relationship with social partners (Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Deacon 1997). This socially
important communication of the emotional relationship is transmitted by very fine
speech modulations, the speech melody, which are produced by modulation of muscle
activity and can be precisely recognized by social partners. The production of speech
and singing is essentially supported by the highly differentiated abdominal wall mus-
culature, which is responsible for the very precisely regulated pressure of the expired
air stream. Evolution of the upper airways for highly specialized language production
was combined with a loss of the thermoregulatory function, because both functions
cannot be performed simultaneously by the same apparatus. This functional change
became possible by the reduction of body hair and the spread of sweat glands all over
the naked skin, a quite new feature in the evolution of the human body.
6
The human senses and their functional hierarchy
6.1 The “naked” human
The remarkable feature of the nakedness of the human body is not due to a loss of
the hair of the body, but by a maximal reduction in the size of the hairs of most parts

of the body surface. The tips of these small unpigmentated body hairs are reaching
maximally 1 mm beyond the surface of the skin, due to a heterochronic restriction
in the growth of these hairs. Regularly in both sexes only the hairs of the scalp, the
eyebrows, the eyelids and the openings of nose and ears, are regularly growing ter-
minal hairs of different length, and with the onset of puberty also the pubic and
axillary hairs grow to normal size, and in numerous ethnic groups in males also the
hairs of the beard, on the chest and even on the back and on the extremities (Mon-
tagna 1976, Williams, Warwick 1980). This very specific evolution of human body
hair cover (Montagna 1985) has been misinterpreted since ancient times and even
by philosophical anthropology of the last century, to be an expression of the
defencelessness and loss of biological instincts of modern man (Duncker 1998b), in
spite of some authors since the 17th
century, who have tried to emphasize the funda-
mental importance of the highly differentiated haptic sensory function of the naked
human skin (Benthien 1999, Zeuch 2000, John 2001, Zimmer 2001).
As one point the functional importance of this special feature of naked human
body has been discussed in respect to the special thermoregulatory necessities of
the upright walking and hunting modern human, together with the unique distribu-
tion of sweat glands all over his skin (Montagna 1985, Kreger 1999–2001). How-
ever, the specific evolution of the sensitivity of the human skin, which is a basic
feature for modern humans (Duncker 1998b, 2000b), has not especially been men-
tioned. By the drastic reduction of body hair, the high sensitivity of the prehensile
skin of the hands and feet of monkeys and anthropoid apes has been extended over
the entire integument of humans, no longer being hindered by the possession of a
body fur. This evolution goes together with the human specific differentiation of the
lip region, which is highly specialized for touch sensitivity, as is the tip of the
tongue. This increase in overall skin sensitivity is accompanied by an increase in the
dimensions of the dorsal column, the posterior funiculus of the spinal cord, which is
responsible for conduction of the highly developed epicritic skin sensitivity, being
representated cortically by the large somatosensory postcentral gyrus (Williams,
Warwick 1980, Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994). Due to this general ignorance of the
functional imports of the nakedness of the human skin, the skin has been regarded
as a sensory organ of the “lower senses”, which is also an ancient philosophical
topic, not having been revised even by recent anthropologists.
6.2
The haptic and proprioceptive perceptions
In contrast to this classical view, in which the visual system is the leading sense
organ and our main mode of recognizing reality, our basic sensory system is made
up by the haptic impressions of the tactile senses of the skin including all proprio-
ceptive impressions from our locomotory systems. In this way newborns recognize
all social contacts and objects of their material world initially by the newly evolved
lip region and the tip of the tongue during the so-called “oral phase”. Avoiding the
Freudian psycho-sexual overinterpretation of this developmental phase, it is now
also called “oral-captative phase” (Schultz-Hencke 1988, Elhardt 1998), demon-
strating the importance of haptic perceptions for the development of the multisen-
sorial recognition of social members and material objects (Gibson, Walker 1984,

Berger 1994, Montagu 2000). Later on with growing movability and increasing
dexterity of the hands, the tactile recognition of the world is supported and subse-
quently substituted by the hands. In this way adults also identify objects three-
dimensionality by touch, recognizing their shape and surface qualities. This tactile
recognition of reality is supported by the visual system, which develops function-
ally after birth. All primarily haptically recognized objects, which are in parallel
also recognized visually, can in the future be identified by the visual system. But
even in adults, this sequence of recognition is performed by our sense organs in the
same order. Each real comprehension of new objects requires first the haptic recog-
nition of its three-dimensionality and surface characteristics, before it can be iden-
tified visually, which is subsequently the dominate mode of identification. These
basic relationships constitute the hierarchy of our sense organs, in which our visual
system is subordinate to skin senses. Traditionally, our visual system is viewed as
being dominant, because it is our most important sense organ for distant objects,
together with the acoustical system. This has been tought since ancient times, and
also modern philosophical considerations, e. g. Kant, are mainly based on the prin-
cipal importance of the “visual appearance” (Kant 1977). Remarkably at this gen-
eral foundation of human cognition on the visual perception is that even Kant has
stated in his “anthropology in pragmatic respect” (Kant 1983) the importance of the
sense of touch for the perception of the material appearance of objects and organ-
isms (John 2001).
The above-mentioned dominance of tactile perceptions of the skin in their
described hierarchical cooperation with the visual and acoustical perceptions are
acting constantly together with those perceptions from the proprioceptive system.
This has been demonstrated so convincingly by recent investigations on the prob-
lems of astronauts with orientation during free flights in the gravity-free strato-
sphere. Our visual and acoustical systems constantly require calibration by our pro-
prioceptive and tactile perceptions, working under gravity, to which they are adapt-
ing in rather short time periods. Without these proprioceptive and skin perceptions
the location, intensity and size of all visually and acoustically perceived objects
cannot be precisely recognized (Lackner, DiZio 2000).
6.3
The reception and modulation of pain sensations
The sensitivity of the skin and the locomotor apparatus relies not only on different
sensations such as touch, pressure, vibration and perception of position and its
changes, but also on the second important category of sensations, the different
kinds of pain and temperature. There are basical differences between the uptake,
conduction, representation and recognition of touch and position impressions on
the one hand and pain sensations on the other. The touch and proprioceptive sensa-
tions are directly conducted by axon collaterals of afferent neurons in the dorsal
column in strict somatotopical order, enabling the precise somatotopic representa-
tion and epicritical recognition of mechanical sensations in certain subregions of
the postcentral somatosensory cortex. This representation in the form of the so-
called homunculus reflects the density of the peripheral receptors and the func-
tional importance of the respective skin regions (Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994, Bir-

baumer, Schmidt 1996, Trepel 1999). In contrast, pain sensations of the skin and
the locomotor apparatus are connected in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord with
other neurons of functional reflexes to retract the body part from the pain stimulus,
to reduce self-inflicted pain actions and to induce defence movements for self-pro-
tection. At the same time these pain-conducting neurons in the dorsal horn are also
connected to neurons forming the conducting tracts towards the brain. However,
pain transmission in the dorsal horn is already at this level modulated by
encephalin-producing neurons, which are activated according to the general cur-
rent physiological situation, to enable forceful counteractions without pain inhibi-
tion (Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Adler 1996, Trepel
1999, Zenz, Jurna 2001).
These encephalin neurons of the dorsal horn are additionally innervated by
descending tracts from the brain stem, especially from the midbrain region (Bir-
baumer, Schmidt 1996, Trepel 1999). Thus the perception of pain through the spinal
nerves as well as through the trigeminal nerve can also be modulated by social
learning according to the importance that the community attaches to the expression
of pain. In the upper brain stem, especially in the midbrain reticular formation, a
number of different nuclei, which produce several opioid peptides such as endor-
phin, dynorphin and metencephalin, modulate substantially the transmission of
pain into the cerebral cortex through the spino-reticulo-thalamic tracts (Drenck-
hahn, Zenker 1994, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Trepel 1999). During intensive work
or stress, even strong pain will not be recognized. This brain stem pain modulation
system also underlies fundamental cultural imprinting through early social learn-
ing: Each social community determines, to which extent the social expression of
pain and the social consideration of painful events possess importance for social
life. This importance can change during the historical development of societies, but
basically it always influences the behaviour of its social members. Social learning
determines by internal feed back to what extent and duration pain is recognized by
a single person (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). In a very similar way individuals can
also learn recognition and social expression of pain, which start from minor and/or
short-term sensations. This is one of the mechanisms by which the recognition of
chronic pain arises, which is characteristic for many psychosomatic diseases (v.
Uexküll 1996). Recent investigations have demonstrated that the cortical recogni-
tion of pain depends on different cortical areas; the most posterior part of the
somatosensory gyrus, the adjacent dorsolateral parietal cortex, the anterior insular
cortex and the cingular cortex cranial to the knee of the corpus callosum (Treede et
al. 1999).
6.4
The functional hierarchy of the processing of haptic and pain
sensations
Tactile skin sensations, and the mostly unconscious proprioceptive sensations from
the locomotor system, as well as pain sensations of both organ systems, represent in
the first line physiological sensations determining biological protective functions to
maintain the integrity of the body. Beyond this physiological protective function, all
touch and proprioceptive sensations are conducted by the phylogenetically old

spinothalmic tract systems (including the spinoreticular and spinotectal system),
which are mostly multineuronally organized, via the thalamus into the postcentral
somatosensory cortex areas, mediating crude touch sensory information, but lacking
precision in tactile discrimination. However, this system is important for activation
of the highly differentiated dorsal column of the spinal cord, which is made up of
direct axon collaterals of the sensory spinal ganglion neurons, and which conducts
the strongly somatotopical organized epicritical somatosensory and proprioceptive
sensations to the different somatosensory cortex areas (Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994,
Trepel 1999). This dorsal column system, making up 40% of the cross-sectional
area of the cervical spinal cord, is the most highly evolved human conductory system
for all sensations from the naked skin and the locomotor apparatus, having been
developed in accordance with the extreme importance of skin perceptions in
humans. This is also expressed in the vast extension of the cortical representation of
these perceptions and the highly differentiated cortical processing of this informa-
tion into somatosensory cognition. These three components, the highly evolved sen-
sitivity of the entire body surface, the massively increased dorsal column conducting
system and the large cortical representation of the skin sensations, determine the
intense sensitivity of the human skin and its importance for the recognition of all
social and material reality (Duncker 1998b, 2001b).
On this basis the skin represents the major human sensory organ for developing
feeling of one’s own body and self-awareness, for differentiating the own body from
other social members and organisms and from material objects (Montagu 2000).
Skin sensations are the basis of all cognition (Gibson, Walker 1984, Berger 1994,
Nicolaisen 1994, v. Uexküll 1996, Elhardt 1998). Not only the afferent connections
and the expansion of the somatosensory cortical area, but especially the vast num-
ber of connections with other sensory areas and with the secondary and tertiary
areas of association are responsible for the exponentially increased processing of
human skin sensations. Thus, beyond simple recognition of the feeling of touch sen-
sations, the different levels of feelings and sentiments have been developed, prima-
rily by complex processings and interrelationships with sensations from other sen-
sory organs, with social situations, individual intentions and knowledge as well as
with the large capacity for memory of biographic and episodic events, which are
responsible for our highly differentiated emotionality (Ulich 1995, Kolb, Whishaw
1996, Zimbardo, Gerrig 1999, Montagu 2000). Our emotions range from good or
bad feelings of direct skin contact with living or material objects to the feeling for
certain social relationships or ownership of special toys and tools up to special feel-
ings of intimacy with one’s own home habitat including clothing and food, the feel-
ing of special relationships to certain kinds of thinking and beliefs, also to certain
artwork and music, certain lifestyles and planing of the own way of life up to the
highest and most intensive levels of feeling, that of love. It comprehends love to a
person and to his relatives, or the vitally necessary relationships to his country, his
own social and cultural world and the world of religious beliefs, creative imagina-
tions and art. In this richly graded hierarchy of levels of feelings one level depends
on the foregoing, as they have primarily developed after birth (Köhler 1996, Zim-
bardo, Gerrig 1999). In the adult also the actual processing of skin sensations and
differentiated feelings takes place in a similar way, the higher levels originating
from the underlying ones.

Compared with the other skin sensations, the sensations of pain, their conduction
and lastly their cortical processing and perception are quite different in their func-
tional mechanisms, their topographical organizations and the significance for the
individual. The physiological processes of pain reception and the conduction of
pain sensations underlie the described modulation by encephalin/endorphin spinal
neurons and brainstem nuclei according to physiological and/or psychological situ-
ations as well as to socio-cultural learning in response to the social attention and
importance of social demonstration of pain. Besides this basic modulation the pro-
jection of pain stimuli is, in contrast to the precise somatotopic projection of skin
touch sensations, multineuronal and quite diffuse via intralaminar thalamic nuclei
into the named cortical areas. Beyond the described physiological reactions for pro-
tection of the body integrity cortical recognition has fundamental importance for
the development of body consciousness and social self-awareness (Adler 1996,
Anzieu 1996, Morris 1996, Benthien 1999). Painful sensations not only induce pro-
tective body reactions, and cortical recognition enables consciousness not only of
the limitations and outer borders of the body, but also of personal limitations in
body movement and contact with other social members and material objects. At the
next level of pain recognition the individual person learns in which way his actions
and the intentions in his social and material world are limited. A person often expe-
riences painfully the limitations of the social intentions, forcing other persons to do
or not to do what one wants, but also limitations in competition in sports, social and
language arguments or intellectual competence. In a similar way personal limita-
tions are painfully experienced in all trials of social and professional intentions, the
trials attaining certain social and professional positions through training and learn-
ing in school, professional education and studies. Growing up and becoming an
adult is a painful process, in our highly institutionalized societies as well as in tribal
cultures with their initiation rituals. Also all kinds of personal relationships can be
recognized as being painfull, especially with the loss of social partners and rela-
tives, the loss of native surroundings, of the known and intimate social and living
conditions and language, of the intellectual thinking and of religious beliefs. The
most intensive recognition of all these spheres of reality, from self-awareness of
own body up to the social and cultural identity of a person, is a painful one. The
painful recognition of all these levels of individual life is therefore the most impres-
sive experience of life, the basis of all cultural creativity, as expressed in biogra-
phies of artists and scientists (Anzieu 1996, Morris 1996, Benthien 1999).
6.5
The body appearance and its importance for the self-expression of
a person
The extreme sensitivity of the skin with the highly differentiated cortical processing
of skin sensation is only one aspect of the functional importance of naked skin for
human beings. Naked skin is also the most important organ of the body for self
expression, exponentially more meaningful than a skin with a dense fur (Bammes
1964, Morris 1977, 1997, Crone, Salzmann 1991, Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1997, Jarrassé
2001). This expression of the naked appearance works during all static presenta-
tions of the body, but it is even ten times more meaningful during all body move-

ments. Body movements not only serve the functional necessity of handling and
locomotion, but they also have important components for the expression of feelings
and social intentions, with large individual variations in the extent and mode of
expression. The musculatur of the face is especially highly differentiated for these
expressions, so that the feelings and social intentions of a person can be demon-
strated in an extremely fine-tuned manner. In a similar way, this is also true for the
hands (Wehr, Weinmann 1999, Wilson 2000). Both face and hands are also the prin-
cipal organs of tactile recognition of the social and material world. When the naked
body is visible, these expressions of the face and the hands are substantially sup-
ported by the expression of the entire body, by body language.
This expression of the naked body is basically influenced by the very special
distribution and amount of subcutaneous fat tissue (Martin 1995, Ulijaszek 1998,
Duncker 1998b, 2000b). Both skin and subcutaneous fat constitute a biological
unit, depending upon one another for a life time in their development, as all plastic
surgeons know. A person integrates short-term demonstrations of feelings and
intentions into their expressions by the special way in which he or she performs
actual movements. Long-term changes in body appearance are formed by the gen-
eral life style of a person and the long-term state of feelings and social intentions.
A person who does not often smile or laugh as a child, will not have developed
laughing folds in her face. In this way the general life style, the nourishment and
the overall state of activity, the professional work and athletic activities are
expressed by the special use and hyperthrophy of certain muscles or body parts or
alternatively their hypotrophy (Bammes 1964, Duncker 1998b). These include the
molding of the subcutaneous fat tissue as well. This richness of expression, espe-
cially of the naked body, and the intensified expressions of the moving body have
attracted artists throughout the ages, stimulating them to portray the human face
and body on canvas and as sculptures (Bammes 1964, Crone, Salzmann 1991, Jar-
rassé 2001).
The growing child develops rather early a feeling for self expression of its naked
body, demonstrating feelings and social intentions to its family members and other
persons, even those feelings and intentions that the child does not wish to present to
everyone. Thus, already long before puberty children develop non-sexual shame
(Hassenstein 1987, Duncker 1998b) and a behaviour upon which social tactile
taboos are built. Already a baby regulates its skin contact with the mother and other
family members, determining time and duration of these contacts. These regular
skin contacts are the fundamental basis for the development of body consciousness
of the growing child, for its emotionality and ability to develop intensive personal
contacts, but on a self-determined basis, expressing rather early basic characteris-
tics of the child’s personality. These more or less intensive tactile skin contacts with
other persons underlie strong changes in selectivity during the development of the
child and youth reaching into adulthood. Contacts with mother and other family
members are gradually reduced with increasing age. During school age the inten-
sive skin contacts with members of peer groups of the same sex become increas-
ingly important. These contacts are gradually substituted during puberty by those
with a partner of the opposite sex. After attaining full maturity, skin contacts with
the one selected sexual partner dominate all other, which have mostly vanished
(Morris 1977, Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1997, Duncker 1998b, 2000b).

6.6
The social importance of the body appearance and its cultural
consequences
These intensive touch sensations of skin contact over the entire body are an indis-
pensable element of a strong, long-term pair bond (Baker, Bellis 1995, Valerius
1998, Diamond 2000). Compared to our nearest relatives, the anthropoid apes, and
as far as we know and can deduce from ethological investigations, these human skin
contacts increase exponentially in intensity and especially in cortical processing
and recognition with the different levels of feeling and personal relationships. This
intensity of feeling, upon which pair-bonding depends, is most profoundly
expressed in the orgasm, which is specific to humans and unknown in animals
(Baker, Bellis 1995, Jones 1997). The importance of these personal skin contacts
and the increased intensity of feeling in pair bonding is especially demonstrated by
the high frequency of sexual intercourse in humans, especially outside of the time
of ovulation, totally unknown in the animal kingdom, and even after menopause
(Diamond 2000). Social tactile taboos and the intensity and frequency of overall
body skin contact including sexual intercourse and orgasm in the pair relationship
demonstrate the great importance of the strongly increased skin sensitivity for the
special structure of the social life of humans.
The significance of the body appearance for the entire social life of a person
from birth to old age is determined by the development of the age-specific social
tactile taboos and the behaviour of shame, which is depending on that taboo devel-
opments. These human specific developments restrict tactile skin contacts to inti-
mate personal relationships, and the majority of cultural communities also restricts
demonstrations of the naked body only to related persons (Duncker 1998b, 2000b).
Therefore in most communities the naked body surface is decorated or covered by
the various kinds of jewelry for different parts of the body, or by body paintings,
ornamental scars, tattooings and hairstyles (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1997, Beckwith, Fisher
1999, Caplan 2000) and especially by the different types of clothings. These kinds
of decorations or coverings of the naked body have been developed in such an
immense diversity in the different cultural communities and for different social and
ritual purposes. By the lack of direct skin contacts for social communication due to
the far reaching social tactile taboos the visual appearance of the body gained
immense social importance, especially for the purpose of social differentiations.
These diferentiations, which are documented by the respective special form of body
paintings, tattooings, jewelry and especially by all possible types of clothings, have
to be observed carefully in most communities by their members. These documenta-
tions of social rank and function of the single person are important for all forms of
social life, and especially at feasts, rituals and special types of cooperative working
Eibl-Eiberfeldt 1997, Beckwith, Fisher 1999).
The development of nakedness of the human skin, the cortical processing and
cognition of the skin sensations and the fundamental importance of the very selec-
tive, but intensive skin tactile contacts from birth to old age prohibit the use of the
skin as a general social organ of communication, as it is the rule in simian and
anthropoid ape communities, as exemplified by their social grooming. This is one
reason for human social tactile taboos. The principal reason for this fundamental

change in social communication from apes to humans is the highly differentiated
cortical processing and cognition of skin contact sensations and their basic impor-
tance for the development of body consciousness, rich emotionality and differenti-
ation of social relationships. This is a result of human brain evolution resulting in an
exponentially increased recognition of the social and material world (Valerius 1998,
Duncker 1998b, 2000b). These highly differentiated interrelationships can no
longer be expressed and generally communicated in the society by skin-touch inter-
actions among different individuals. This functional necessity was achieved by the
specific evolution of the sound production system of the upper respiratory tract,
enabling man to develop a unique system of languages, which incorporates the pos-
sibility of the development of an exponentially differentiated system of social com-
munication (Dunbar 1998, Deacon 1997).
7
The evolution of the human brain
7.1
The increase in brain size far beyond the expected brain weight-body
weight relationship
The increase in brain size from australopithecines to Homo sapiens in the 3.5 Mill.
years of human evolution is dramatic, starting from the chimpanzee-like total brain-
case volume of 400–450 cm3
to a human brain-case volume of 1350–1600 cm3
. The
weight of the brain increased from approximately max. 400g to an average of 1250g
in females and 1375g in males (Aiello, Dean 1990, Jones et al. 1992, Martin 1995,
Knußmann 1996, Henke, Rothe 1999). The body weight doubled from australop-
ithecines to modern man. According to the general mammalian brain weight/body
weight relationships the weight of the brain should increase 1.5 fold with the dou-
bling of the body weight, but in human evolution it increased 3.5 times. This increase
is mainly due to an increase in the cerebrum and in proportional correlation also in
the cerebellum. Moreover, the surface of the cerebral cortex increased even 4 fold
(Rapoport 1990, Duncker 1998b, 2000b). Because brain tissue is the metabolically
most expensive tissue of the body, this dramatic increase in human brain tissue mass
runs up a heavy metabolic mortgage debt: In older fetusses and newborns the brain
occupies 13% of the body mass but more than 60% of the resting metabolic rate of
the entire body. In adults the brain makes up 2% of the body mass and even 20% of
the resting metabolism (Martin 1995, Ulijaszek et al. 1998). These astonishing meta-
bolic requirements of the growing human brain explain another unique appearance
of the human newborn: Newborn chimpanzees possess only 3% of their body weight
as subcutaneous fat tissue (Sarnat, Sarnat 1994), but newborn humans 16% or more
(Ulijaszek et al. 1998). Brain tissue can only metabolize glucose, but not fatty acids
as in musculature. However, during starvation brain tissue can supply aerobic meta-
bolic energy needs with ketone bodies, which are provided by fat tissue under these
conditions. Thus, the subcutaneous fat tissue of newborns is an important reserve
substance for brain metabolism during hunger. This amount of subcutaneous fat tis-
sue remains into adulthood, moulding in a gender-specific manner the appearance of
the naked body. In females the amount of subcutaneous fat tissue is increased to

25% of body weight or more (Ulijaszek et al. 1994), being functionally directly cou-
pled with female reproductivity. Additionally, the appearance of the female body is
characterized by the unique formation of permanent breasts, unknown in apes. The
breasts consist mainly of fat tissue, which is replaced in gravidity by the rapidly
growing glands of lactation (Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994). Sufficient milk production
is necessary for supplying the metabolically demanding brain of the newborn.
Besides these functional needs the permanent breasts are a visual signal of the
women reaching reproductive maturity.
7.2
The cerebral cortex
The evolutionary increase in human brain size is most specifically due to the increase
in the cerebrum, including the basal ganglia, the diencephalic thalamus and the cere-
bellum, but, the cerebral cortex and its internal connections are amounting for the
dominate proportion of increase. However, there was not a homogeneous increase of
all cortical areas, compared to the chimpanzee brain, which is most equivalent to the
australopithecine brain. The primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex, the visual,
auditory and the somatosensory cortex as well as the primary motor cortex, are only
moderately enlarged. More intensively enlarged are the surrounding association areas
of the cortex including the secondary motor cortex areas. But the great increase in the
human cerebral cortex is mainly due to the entirely new development of the tertiary
association areas between the sensory and motor cortex areas, including the parietal,
occipital and temporal association areas as well as the large fronto-basal cortex
(Rapoport 1988, 1990, Ricklefs, Finch 1996, Duncker 1998b). These tertiary areas
are responsible for development of the parietal sensory speech centers and the frontal
motor speech areas. The human cerebral cortex is differentiated into more than 50
areas, which can be distinguished according to their cyto- and myeloarchitecture, as
described by Brodmann (Brodmann 1925, Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994). However, the
functionally best known cerebral cortex, the visual cortex, is differentiated into an
exponentially greater number of functionally different cortical areas than demon-
strated by cyto- and myeloarchitecture (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Kolb, Whishaw
1996). The same is true, as far as it is known, for the motor areas and the large num-
ber of premotor areas (Geyer et al. 2000). These functionally different fields are espe-
cially distinguished by their various connections to various other cortical areas, not
only to those in the neighbourhood, but also over larger distances via large association
bundles (Geyer et al. 2000, Fadiga et al. 2000). Also the relatively large interindivid-
ual variations of the boundaries of the different cytoarchitectonical and functional
cortex areas have been demonstrated recently at the example of the human
somatosensory cortex (Geyer et al. 2001). These features characterize the specific
structural and functional differentiations of the human cerebral cortex.
7.3
The functional dominances of the cerebral hemispheres
The second important functional differentiation of the human cerebral cortex is the
development of the very different functional dominances of the two hemispheres.

Functional differences between both cerebral hemispheres are known to a certain
extent in other mammals and vertebrates (Springer, Deutsch 1998). But in humans
these differences become exponentially more pronounced during their development
over the first 15 years of life, producing very substantial functional dominances of
both hemipheres (Kolb, Whishaw. 1996, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). Each hemi-
sphere generally repesents the controlateral body side and its sense organs. How-
ever, in addition to these general functions, the left hemisphere is responsible for
speech production and semantic comprehension of language and for the control of
complex voluntary movements, even in most left-handed persons (Kolb, Whishaw
1996). Moreover, the processes of consciousness depend on a functioning left
hemisphere. It also serves word memory and logical-abstract thinking, especially
sequence-analytical thinking (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Kolb, Whishaw 1996,
Springer, Deutsch 1998). In contrast, the right hemisphere, which is constantly
involved in all body actions and sensory perceptions, is responsible during speaking
for the speech-melody and the non-verbal comprehension of language, for spatial
control of all movements and orientation as well as for control of the mimic and
body language expressions (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Kolb, Whishaw 1996,
Springer, Deutsch 1998). In the right hemisphere non-verbal, spatial memory is
stored, and it is responsible for all complex pattern analysis from visual, auditory
and tactile perceptions, i. e., memory of faces, buildings and landscapes as well as
melodies or complex three-dimensional tactile objects. All emotional, pictorial and
imaginative thinking we owe to the function of our right hemisphere. Thus, it is
responsible for a great part of our cultural creativity.
7.4
The long lasting ontogenetic development of the cerebral cortex
The human cerebral cortex begins its main functional activity after birth, when the
sensory input is fully working. Cytologically all cortical neurons are differentiated
and lie in their final topographical position, but their dendrites are only poorly
developed and only a basic set of interconnections are already established (Kostovic
1990, Semenova et al. 1993, Kolb, Whishaw 1996). The newborn performs all its
actions and reactions through the fully developed and functioning brainstem,
including the functionally fully developed ancient olfactory cortex and basal fore-
brain nuclei. The functioning sense organs of the newborn are the olfactory, audi-
tory and tactile systems, which work mainly at the brainstem level, regulating the
vital reflexes of breathing, suckling and maintaining contact with the mother
(Duncker 1998b). The visual system starts its functional development when the
newborn first opens its eyes, requiring two to three months under constant stimuli
from a richly differentiated visual environment to develop the highly complex pro-
cessings of the incoming visual information. Only after this development, the new-
born is able to see pictures and recognize and differentiate visually the mother,
other relatives and material objects (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). This ontogenetic
process of developing specific cortical functions by continuous processing of
incoming sensory information and functionally relating this information with infor-
mation from other sensory organs to etablish cortical interrelationships, including

those to motor cortex areas, represents the general mode of functional development
for all neocortical areas (Semenova et al. 1993).
This remarkable ontogenetic development of the manifold increased human
cerebral cortex underlies the same heterochronic changes as general human body
growth: Cortical structural and functional development continues up to the end of
puberty, approximately to the 20th
year. In this development the cortical thickness
doubles and the size of the surface of the different cortical areas grows fourfold,
increasing the cortical volume eight fold (Semenova et al. 1993, Kolb, Whishaw
1996, Duncker 1998b, 2000b). This growth has its greatest intensity during the first
years of life and reaches final cortical dimensions asymptotically. The functionally
important features of this long-term growth include continuously growing dendritic
trees of intracortical neurons as well as continuously sprouting and elongating axon
collaterals for establishing their intracortical connections with neurons of neigh-
bouring cortical columns, but also the further development of their association and
commissural connections. Thus, the growing neurons deliver continuously new
structural possibilities for new interconnections and thus for new functional devel-
opments of the individual. As far as it is known, these growth processes and func-
tional developments of the cerebral cortex do not take place with an identical time
schedule and intensity in the different areas of the brain (Semenova et al. 1993).
Their specific growth time patterns and their correlation with the different develop-
mental locomotor and cognitive stages of the child and youth are as yet unknown.
However, the human specific, extreme temporal extension of these structural and
functional developmental processes for a period of 20 years are the neuronal basis
for the long-term social, cultural and professional developments of the single per-
son within the different human societies.
7.5
The cortical basis of consciousness and self-awareness
For a proper understanding of the function of the human brain and especially the
highly differentiated capacities of the cerebral cortex, one other evolutionary
development is important. All consciousness and self-awareness in humans are
dependent on proper cortical functions during a state of wakefullness, which is
controlled by mesencephalic nuclei of the reticular formation, the ascending retic-
ular activating system (Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994, Schmidt, Thews 1995, Trepel
1999). The selection of the internal vegetative and/or external sensory information
that is biologically most important for the person at any time point, is performed
by the limbic system. It determines during short-time periods the specific cortical
processing and combination of these vital perceptions, so that the biologically nec-
essary reactions, locomotor activities or behavioural actions will be produced
(Drenckhahn, Zenker 1994, Schmidt, Thews 1995, Trepel 1999). Both these con-
trol systems of the activity of the cerebral cortex and the combinations of its differ-
ent areas are shared with all other mammals and especially the apes. Almost totally
newly developed in human evolution is the nucleus basalis Meynert in the basal
forebrain, which supplies all cortical areas directly with cholinergic fibers
(Rapoport 1988, 1990, Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Trepel 1999). These control, in addi-
tion to the two other systems, the overall cortical activity during the wake state.

Anthropoid apes have demonstrated in numerous experiments high cognitive
capacities up to the ability to process symbolic signs and their meaning. However,
they perform these abilities only in experiments using rewards, not on their own
(Valerius 1998). The activity of the newly evolved nucleus basalis stimulates
humans, starting at birth, to continuously explorative activity in the social and
material world. This special functional construction of the human brain is respon-
sible for all playing activities and trials of children, leading up to social, cultural
and technical creativity of adults.
8
The evolution of human languages and planning activities
8.1
The needs for a differentiated social communication as the origin of
languages
The mentioned development of the sensitivity of the naked human skin and the
exponentially increased cortical processings of sensory information resulted in the
development of the human-specific different levels of feelings and sentiments as
well as different levels of pain and suffering, which are essential for the develop-
ment of the individuality of the growing child with its very specific emotionality.
An essential component of this development is the high expressivity of the naked
body through facial mimic and body language. This high skin sensitivity and
expressivity led to non-sexual shame and social tactile taboos. Thus, in human soci-
eties communication via social grooming such as in monkeys and anthropoid apes
became impossible (Dunbar 1998, Valerius 1998). Additionally, the limited differ-
entiation of communication by social body touch contact has made this type of
communication system unsuitable for human social communication to express the
highly differentiated feelings, sentiments and perceptions of our social and material
world as well as for insights into the relationships of social partners or material
objects and for the exchange of ideas and ways of thinking and beliefs. These com-
municative purposes could only be served by a new system of communication capa-
ble of rich internal differentiation to express the highly complex human percep-
tions, cognitions, thinkings and emotionality. The only system capable of this dif-
ferentiation was a highly evolved sound communication system, that of languages.
For this purpose, besides the anthropoid system of producing a limited number of
emotional cries by the brain stem, in humans the larynx-pharynx-mouse-nose sys-
tem has been extensively evolved for language production, basing on the evolution
of the cortical motor and sensory speech centers. Thus, a dramatic co-evolution of
the human cerebral cortex and the ability of human societies for language produc-
tion took place (Jerison 1973, Jerison, Jerison 1988, Aiello, Dean 1990, Jones et al.
1992, Crystal 1995, Deacon 1997). We possess good reason to believe that the driv-
ing force for this co-evolution was the extremely intensified necessity for an expo-
nentially evolved social communication, which first enabled the exponentially
increased social cooperation among modern humans (Tomasello. Call 1997, Cav-
alli-Sforca 1999), becoming the basis for all further cultural developments and
exploitations of the environment for food and energy.

8.2
The social basis of the development of thinking and belief
In this co-evolution the development of the cortical motor and sensory speech cen-
ters are only the “externally” visible marker of a differentiation of the cerebral cor-
tex. These speech centers have been recognized because they are major sites for the
large number of different aphasias, disturbances in the production or understanding
of speech (Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Deacon 1997). Recent
non-invasive investigations demonstrate that the production as well as the reception
of speech depend on the activity of several cortical areas beyond the motor and sen-
sory speech areas in cooperation with these in a complicated network structure, dif-
ferently for each hemisphere (Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996, Deacon 1997, Friederici
1999, 2001). However, the production and understanding of language are only one
end result of the cortical processings of perceptions and cognition of social relations
and insights into the material world. They are also essential for thought processes of
an individual concerning relationships and emotions for social communication
among members of ones own cultural group (Ulich 1995, v.Uexküll 1996). Cortical
processing and social communication of these perceptions and insights can only
develop through intensive interaction, in which language communication and under-
standing are essential for the further differentiation of cortical processings and vice
versa. Thus, speech centers are not the only endpoints of these cortical interconnec-
tions between different sensory organs and their association areas for the processing
of perceptions as well as the connection to different motor cortex areas and the fron-
tobasal cortex. These cortical processing networks are also responsible for the
abstraction of different perceptions to general categories, which result in the genera-
tion of symbolic forms of thinking, so characteristic for human formal-abstract
thinking (Deacon 1997). The human thinking process does not only differentiate and
categorize social and material objects, but especially their spatial distribution and
temporal relations into finely graded categories. The same is true for social interrela-
tionships and the highly differentiated relationships to material objects and their
technical handling and use. A special differentiation is characteristic for the mental
processing of all levels of feelings, sentiments, emotion and sufferings (Kolb,
Whishaw 1996, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). These feelings are the basis of all
processes of conscious thinking and self-awareness, continuing into the fields of
belief.All these spheres of personal thinking and beliefs owe their differentiated, per-
sonal existence to a continuous social communication, which determinates the per-
sonal thinking and emotions of an individual (Ulich 1995, v.Uexküll 1996).
8.3
The cortical origin of the syntactic structure and the socio-historical
origin of the semantic meaning of languages
In human societies this social communication depends primarily on language com-
munication, which is supported by speech melody, facial expressions and body lan-
guage (Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). But what is the structure of
a human language, that enables it to serve this highly demanding communication? At
the first level, words are developed as symbolic sound systems to name or label cer-

tain social or material objects or categories of objects (Deacon 1997). This develop-
ment of words depends on intensive social communication over a long historical
process. The formation of words as symbolic sounds and the changes that occur dur-
ing the historical development of a language are not only the result of social conven-
tions within the single language communities and their history, but they are also
imprinted by special cortical mechanisms in the motor production of sounds as words
(Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Birbaumer, Schmidt 1996). Besides nouns, verbs arise to com-
prehend all kinds of actions, movements and developments in space and time. Next,
words as pronouns and articles, adverbs and adjectives arise to articulate certain rela-
tionships between objects and/or actions and to characterize special qualities or fea-
tures of these objects and actions and their interrelationships (Crystal 1995, Bodmer
1997, Klosa et al. 1998). These interrelationships are not expressed by an arrange-
ment of the words by chance, but in all languages they are arranged according to a
strict syntactical order, which itself determines many of the interrelationships: This
represents the next level in the hierarchical organization of language. The syntactic
configuration of sentences expresses in a basic design of a sentence the order of the
cortical symbolic processing of interrelationships between objects and actions (Dea-
con 1997). Thus, basic syntactic structure of languages expresses basic mechanisms
of thinking, which are determined by cortical capacities and abilities for symbolic
processing. Investigations of language perception by children have demonstrated that
children initially have a command of the syntactically correct structure of sentences
using the dominant motor speech areas (Friederici 1999, 2001), which were formerly
thought to be only responsible for syntactically correct production of speaking. Only
syntactically correct sentences are further analysed by children semantically for their
content, whereas adults compensate syntactic errors to catch the semantic content.
The following level of the syntactic structure of languages is made up by the decli-
nation of nouns and the conjugation of verbs. These possibilities of languages
increase the differention of interrelationships of objects and actions exponentially,
especially in relation to their arrangements in space and time. Declinations and conju-
gations are a direct, immediate expression of the subtle differentiations, in which the
cerebral cortex processes the perceived relationships of all objects and actions in their
spatial and temporal arrangement and order. This is most profoundly demonstrated by
the richness of declination and conjugation patterns of original languages, e.g. the
European national languages at the time of their origin as High Old German Or Old
French, or tribal languages, which were not subject of considerable historical develop-
ments or mixings with other languages (Jungraithmayr 2001). These languages
exceed considerably the four singular and plural declination cases of nouns and the
six basic temporal categories of verb conjugations in modern European languages.
The syntactic structure of many languages with its hierarchical organization of sev-
eral levels demonstrates the differentiation of a cortically determined processes of
thinking (Deacon 1997). However, languages are also subject to historical develop-
ments in the context of a general historical development of their societies. These lan-
guage developments regularly reduce the highly, originally differentiated syntax of
the original language, often by consequence of social exchange and incorporation of
other social and language groups. In this developmental process syntactical differen-
tions are substituted by idiomatic phrases to preserve the precision of language
expressions, as American English clearly demonstrates. Within the syntactial frame-

work of language, being determined by the cortical processing machinery (Calvin,
Bickerton 2000), the semantics of languages thus develop within the different socio-
cultural communities independently from one another, expressing the special content
of thinking and beliefs of a particular society over a long historical development.
Thus, the semantics of a single language contain the historically accumulated cultural
richness of its language community.
8.4
The importance of the planning activities of the fronto-basal cortex
for the structure of the personality
In addition to the multilevel processing of feelings, pain and suffering as the basis of
all emotionality, the highly differentiated processing of all thinking and beliefs as the
basis for all explorative activity and social contact and language communications, the
evolution of the human cerebral cortex comprises functionally a third important func-
tion, which characterizes this species as humans: their continuous planning of activi-
ties. Due to a continuous stimulation of the activity of the cerebral cortex by the fore-
brain nucleus basalis, especially the activity of the enormously enlarged fronto-basal
cortex, the most recent development in human brain evolution is providing this plan-
ning activity. Even infants during the wake state exhibit this activity by continuous
exploratory activities of the social and material world within its attainable surround-
ing. Acquiring increasing locomotory capacities and independent motility, the child
extends its exploring activity to all objects and actions within its reach. It also devel-
ops continuously ideas about activities, which will be performed next or tomorrow. In
this way the child develops more and more plans for short-term and long-term activi-
ties of different kinds. These planning activities extend beyond youth, thereby also
including ideas about the arrangement of the whole life cycle, the desired professional
education and performance, the intended social role and preferred cultural, athletic
and artistic activities. The personality of adults is decisively shaped by the richness of
continuous short- and long-term planing of activities including perspectives of one’s
own life style (Kolb, Whishaw 1996, Trepel 1999). Together with the highly devel-
oped emotionality and the social language communication these continuous planning
activities characterize humans in an exceptional way, being different from all other
animals. This is dramatically demonstrated by infarcts to the forebrain, by which an
important aspect of the basic personality of a person can be lost, losing the ability to
plan short- and long-term activities (Kolb, Whishaw 1996).
9
Special form of human sexual behaviour and human
social structure
9.1
The fundamental differences between the sexual behaviour of
anthropoid apes and humans
During human evolution the structures and functions of the secondary sexual charac-
teristics and sexual behaviour have been fundamentally modified, compared with

our nearest living relatives, especially the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees live in groups,
which are dominated by an old male and his sons, whereas the females are regularly
incorporated from other groups. During their 36 days of the reproductive cycle, the
females demonstrate a very striking estrus, characterized by a marked swelling of the
naked pink anogenital skin, lasting 5 to 6 days, starting 2 to 3 days before ovulation.
During estrus the females present themselves to all males for short copulations. In
contrast, the bonobos, the smaller rain tree forest chimpanzees, live in female-domi-
nated groups with immigrating males. During their 36 day-reproductive cycles the
females also possess remarkable, but comparably smaller anogenital skin swellings,
which last for a longer period of about 25 days. They do not only present themselves
to males of their group, but also to females for copula-like intensive body contact,
which serves for social pacification (Napier, Napier 1967, Kortlandt, Heinemann
1969, Goodall 1988). Quite in contrast, the human female does not show any sign of
ovulation, the genital region is covered by the newly evolved pubic hair. According
to recent investigations it is questionable, whether human females produce
pheromones and humans possess pheromone receptors. In females the glandular
activity in the axillar and pubic region does not secrete any significant marker of the
ovulation period. With the exception of the menstruation period this seclusion of the
reproductive cycle and lack of any demonstration of the different phases of the repro-
ductive cycle, which is called the “crypsis”, are characteristic for humans and an
important basis of their highly derived sexual behaviour (Valerius 1988).
9.2
The social consequences of the highly derived form of human sexual
behaviour
Crypsis, hiding the sexual cycles and reproductive readiness to the members of the
community, goes hand in hand with social tactile taboos. Apart from the intensive
tactile contacts during childhood and youth with members of the family or later of
the peer group, in adulthood intimate skin contacts are practised only with the part-
ner, usually from the other gender, being a substantial component of intense pair
bonding. This pair bonding determines the general mode of human sexual behav-
iour, in which intimate body contact and sexual intercourse take place only between
the two partners (Valerius 1998). The establishment of this human-specific pair
relationship is destined by a long social and cultural development of each person.
This development imprints a very special personality to an individual with all its
individual abilities, ways of thinking and beliefs, intentions and ideas, even includ-
ing thoughts on the style of life and the projected, imagined profession and social
role. Children already select their playmates according to their specific personality
and abilities, their interests for sporting activities, explorations and mutual ven-
tures. In a similar way pair relationships develop, often over long periods of time
with increasing knowledge of the socially and culturally highly differentiated per-
sonality of the potential partner, leading to increasing occurrence of body contact
and ultimately to intimate skin contact and sexual intercourse, experiencing all lev-
els of feelings and desire. This dominant form of adult partnership, which deter-
mines the main avenue of human sexual behaviour, is stabilized by the general
attempts of the single person to choose that partner, who appears to guarantee dur-

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