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24 Paleoanthropology and the Foundation of Ethics: Methodological Remarks on the Problem of Criteriology.
| Title: | 24 Paleoanthropology and the Foundation of Ethics: Methodological Remarks on the Problem of Criteriology. |
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| Authors: | Gutmann, Mathias, Weingarten, Michael |
| Source: | Handbook of Paleoanthropology; 2007, p2039-2069, 31p |
| Abstract: | From a scientific point of view, human beings are usually referred to within a ˵criteriological″ framework. This raises the seemingly empirical question, of which traits should be considered to be ˵typically human,″ and consequently, the difference between human and nonhuman beings is expressed in terms of an animal–human comparison. Following this type of approach, some methodological shortcomings have to be faced. First, the logical grammar of human activities is reduced to the poor grammar of traits, characters, and features of biological constitution. Second, the argumentative structure of criteriological approaches are reconstructed, by analyzing the premises and presuppositions of fundamental animal–human comparisons. A methodologically sound alternative is approached by referring to a semantically rich starting point in the first step, which exploits the distinguishing mark of human existence, namely human work and human activities. From this mediation-oriented perspective, the nonhuman–human transformation takes place not within (first) nature but within culture. This solution has consequences for empirical research as well as for ethical judgment: ethical approaches lose their putative fundament in empirical descriptions of human beings and paleoanthropology will have to face its often overlooked nondescriptive and normative fundament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| DOI: | 10.1007/978-3-540-33761-4_67 |
| Database: | Complementary Index |
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