Evolution of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens: A Kuhnian Investigation

Task:

There are two illustrations on the first page of these guidelines (See pdf for guidelines under "Files"). The first you are already familiar with: Kuhn’s five stage cyclical model for scientific revolutions. The second shows a series of phylogenic trees for the evolution of hominids. The trees represent updates to scientific knowledge over time as new scientific evidence came to light (1955, 1967, 1971, 1980). The trees also represent what Kuhn called “puzzling” towards solving ongoing questions concerning the evolution of humans. A phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among various taxa (i.e., groups to which organisms are classified, including species, based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics). According to the theory of evolution, the taxa join together in the tree, having descended and branched out from a common ancestor. Put side-by-side in illustration #2, the evolutionary relationship between various taxa of human ancestry change over time, as does the theoretical conception of the species relationship between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. For this assignment, you will write an essay that uses Kuhn’s model to investigate how scientific theories about Neanderthals changed from (1) thinking about Neanderthals as a distinct species from Homo Sapiens (c. 1955) to (2) treating Neanderthals as links between earlier and later hominids represented on the phylogenic tree (c. 1967) to (3) understanding Neanderthals to be the end of a line of species evolution following Homo Erectus (c. 1971) and (4) considering Neanderthals as interspecies relatives co-existing with Homo Sapiens (c. 1980). For the essay itself, you will use articles available on CANVAS, under the Course Reserves tab, to track changes in evidence leading to changes in the scientific theories about the evolutionary relationship between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens over the course of the twentieth century. These include articles by Marianne Sommer, Loren Eiseley, Paul Graves, Paul Mellars, Nicholas Wade, Chris Stringer, and Ian Sample. Some of these articles come from scientific journals and others from news media after 1980. You may also do some independent research for other articles from “Google Scholar.” All articles should be cited in the essay and listed in a “References” Section. Begin your essay by briefly summarizing the story of how scientific theories changed about Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens in the course of the twentieth century. Then go on to summarize how and when scientists changed the phylogenic positions they assigned to the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. Next, after briefly summarizing Thomas S. Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions, explain changes in thinking about Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens from a Kuhnian perspective.

Describe all the “puzzling” caused by finding different kinds of evidence.

To account for how this “puzzling” lead to “crises” and what evidence resolves the crises after 1980.

Finally,Draw conclusions about the extent to which Neanderthals have been regarded as “human” or “non-human” over time.