The history of the study of man is more than two and a half thousand years old. The former confidence of the world scientific community that the coming century will be the time of flourishing human science is being replaced by growing skepticism. The inexorable avalanche of global environmental, economic, and social problems questions not only the existence of humanity but also those who study it.
Modern anthropological research, aimed at finding the human essence lost by man in the endless struggle with nature and his own kind, is becoming so acutely important. Their importance is determined by the current situation in the world, for which overcoming the alienation of nature and its natural, social, and spiritual essence is becoming a priority task. Anthropology uses its practical and philosophical subsistent to answer its basic questions. The disciplines assisting scientists in understanding the human nature include geology, stratigraphy, osteology, morphology, and philosophy.
Modern people are the subjects of the negation of nature, both surrounding them and their own. The study of transitions of quantitative changes into qualitative ones in human development in phylogenesis and ontogenesis also requires unconditional attention. The principle of heterochronous development can also be productive for psychology, pedagogy, sociology, political science, and other fields of human knowledge.
Heterochronous development of both individuals and entire nations, peoples, and population groups can become productive in psychology, pedagogy, sociology, political science, and other areas of human sciences. Theoretically, anthropology must first of all answer the questions:
- What is man’s place in the metasystem of nature?
- What is the meaning of human life (destination) in the evolutionary process of nature?
- How does the diversity of individual human callings fit into the holistic process of nature’s evolution?
Evolutionary anthropology is considered to be the science of human origins, which began to form an independent scientific direction due to the works of Charles Darwin. It is based on morphological studies of fossil bone material. However, in general, the study of human evolution was much more complex (O’Neil). In order to have access to the spoils, it is necessary to study such a discipline as geology. This science is the study of the spatial and temporal relationships of sedimentary, volcanogenic, and metamorphic formations that construct the Earth’s crust and reflect the natural stages of development of the Earth and its organic world..
Stratigraphy is one of the most important fundamental geological science. It establishes general regularities of the structure of the sedimentary Earth cover and its individual structures (O’Neil). This discipline is the basis of the theory which is a conceptual basis of geology (O’Neil). The latter studies the Earth and fossils, which are the materials of which it is composed, the structures of these materials, and the processes acting on them (O’Neil). Stratigraphy, along with other disciplines close to anthropology, is connected with taxonomy (O’Neil). This discipline provides classification and systematisation of notions and concepts within a science (O’Neil).
The object of analysis of the geologists is various artifacts that allow conclusions to be drawn about the cultural heritage and environment of different population groups at different historical stages (O’Neil). Part of the fossils is human remains, including bones, the remains of which are studied by osteology (O’Neil). Within the latter, scientists have access to DNA and isotopes, which provide insight into the morphology of people living in different historical periods (O’Neil). DNA is a biological code possessing the genetic data, and isotopes are the variations of the same atoms (O’Neil). Morphology is a scientific branch describing the external traits of people living in different epochs (O’Neil). This discipline helps researchers to build a more detailed picture of a human being living in a distant past.
Thus, without answering theoretical questions with the help of tools from various sciences related to anthropology, it is impossible to study human nature in depth. Anthropology, as the science of the fundamental features of the human species and the patterns of its development, must give scientists the understanding of the essence of the human species. The main purpose of this science is to develop methodological and theoretical foundations for all private areas of human knowledge: anatomy, physiology, medicine, psychology, pedagogy, and sociology.
Work Cited
O’Neil, Dennis. “Boooogical Anthropology Tutorials.” Palomar. Web.