The biological factors of human evolution include. Biological, social and labor factors of human evolution

Do you think the principles that explain the origin and evolution of animal species are applicable to explain the origin and evolution of humans? From the standpoint of the synthetic theory, the biological factors of evolution organic world- the mutation process, the waves of life, genetic drift, isolation, the struggle for existence and natural selection - apply to human evolution as well. The cooling of the climate and the displacement of forests by steppes led to the transition of the ancestors of great apes to a terrestrial way of life. This fact was the first step on their way to bipedalism.

Shortcomings in the speed of movement during upright walking were made up for by the fact that the forelimbs were freed. At the same time, the vertical position of the body made it possible to obtain more information. For example, human ancestors could react more timely to the approach of predators. Hands began to be used for the manufacture and use of various tools. Since the listed devices were aimed at increasing survival, it was along this path that further action was carried out. natural selection. Consequently, the biological factors of anthropogenesis contributed to the formation of morphophysiological features of a person (upright walking, an increase in the volume of the brain, a developed hand).

Role social factors in anthropogenesis was revealed by F. Engels in his work “The Role of Labor in the Process of the Transformation of Apes into Humans” (1896). It is logical to arrange the social factors of evolution in the following sequence: joint way of life → thinking → speech → labor → social way of life. Human ancestors began to unite in groups for living together, mastered the manufacture of tools. It is the manufacture of tools that is a clear boundary between ape-like ancestors and humans. In the struggle for existence, groups of individuals began to receive an advantage, which together could resist adverse conditions environment. Thus, the social factors of anthropogenesis were aimed at improving the relationship between people within the group.

The role of labor in the formation of man

The evolution of the hand after being freed from the support function went in the direction of its improvement for labor activity. This fact reflected in the manufacture of various tools. This was noted when studying the fossil remains of Homo habilis ( Homo habilis).

The structure of the bones of the hand Homo habilis indicates a well-developed grasping ability of the upper limb. The nail phalanges have become short and flat, which once again emphasizes the active use of the brush. Expanded phalanges of the fingers are evidence of hard physical work. In addition, the hand has become the leading human organ in making contacts at a distance with the help of various objects.

The use of manufactured hunting tools significantly increased the efficiency of this process. A person, along with plant foods, began to widely include in the diet more high-calorie foods of animal origin. Cooking food on fire reduced the load on the chewing apparatus and digestive system. As a result, the skeleton of the head became lighter, the intestines shortened.

With the development of labor activity, there was a further unification of people for living together. This expanded the concept of man about the world around him. New ideas were generalized in the form of concepts, which contributed to the development of thinking and the formation of articulate speech. With the improvement of speech, the development of the brain went on. It was in these directions that the action of the driving form of natural selection was realized. As a result, ancient people for very short term significantly increased the volume of the brain.

Public lifestyle as a factor in human evolution

During the transition to a terrestrial way of life, human ancestors faced a number of difficulties in the struggle for existence. This is the development of new habitats, and the constant danger associated with predators in open spaces. For successful survival, human ancestors united in groups, and labor contributed to the rallying of their members. Ancient people collectively defended themselves from predators, hunted and raised children. The older members taught the younger ones to seek out natural materials and make tools, taught to hunt and maintain fire. The use of fire, in addition to cooking, helped protect against bad weather and predators.

Public life provided unlimited opportunities for communication through sounds and gestures. Gradually, the undeveloped larynx and mouth apparatus of ape-like ancestors turned into organs of human articulate speech. This was facilitated by hereditary variability and natural selection.

The leading role of social factors in the history of human development

At the stage of evolution of the most ancient people, the leading role belonged to biological factors- the struggle for existence and natural selection. The selection was aimed at the survival of individual populations of people. The most adapted to adverse conditions and more skilled in the manufacture of tools survived. As people united into groups, social factors began to play a leading role in anthropogenesis. The advantage in the struggle for existence did not necessarily go to the strongest. Gradually, the herd and the forms of communication associated with it became the object of selection. Survived those who maximally preserved children - the future of the population and the elderly - carriers of life experience.

Through labor and speech, a person began to gradually master the culture of the production of tools, the construction of dwellings. Training and education, as well as the transfer of experience, were an important prerequisite for the emergence of elements of human culture. They first appeared as rock paintings, figurines, funeral rites. The improvement of the collective way of life, the distribution of responsibilities between members of the group reduced the role of biological factors in human evolution.

Qualitative differences of a person

Speaking of qualitative differences, let us try to summarize the previously discussed prerequisites for anthropogenesis. A skilled man, the first true representative of the family Homo, distinguishes from representatives of the animal world precisely the ability to make tools.

It is the manufacture that is important here, and not the mere use of a stick or stone by ape-like ancestors to satisfy needs for protection or food. Animals can also use improvised means to obtain food. Monkeys, for example, knock bananas and coconuts off palm trees with sticks and stones. sea ​​otters stones are used to crack shells of mollusks. Some species of Galapagos finches use cactus spines to get insects from under the bark of trees.

All ways of using objects in the life of animals are random character or driven by instinct. Therefore, the main qualitative difference of a person is, of course, conscious work. It is labor that is the boundary that separated man and his distant ancestors.

Man has the same body plan as all mammals. At the same time, there are a number of differences in the structure of the human body related to upright posture, labor activity and the development of speech.

In connection with upright posture the position of the body changed and the center of gravity shifted to the lower extremities. This led to a change in the shape of the spine from arched to S-shaped. This shape gave the spine additional flexibility when moving. The shortening of the spinal column ensures a stable position of the body on the lower limbs, which in humans, unlike ape-like ancestors, are longer than the upper ones.

Other progressive elements associated with walking on two legs were: an arched, springy foot, an expanded pelvis, as well as a shorter and wider chest. The foramen magnum in humans moves to the center of the base of the skull, which allows the skull to be balanced on the cervical vertebrae.

In connection with labor activity the human hand is small, thin and mobile. This gives her the ability to perform a variety of movements. Leading aside thumb and its opposition to the rest allows a person not only to take an object, but also to conveniently grasp it.

The increase in brain volume led to an increase in the size of the brain region of the skull, on average, up to 1500 cm 3 . In terms of volume, it exceeds the facial region by 4 times, although in monkeys this ratio is 1: 1.

With speech development the lower jaw of a person took on the appearance of a horseshoe with a protruding chin. Another distinguishing feature was the presence of a second signal system. The word and the thinking associated with it allow a person to reason logically and generalize the accumulated facts. This is the basis for the transfer of experience, culture, traditions, knowledge over many generations. The knowledge and experience accumulated by a person during his life become the property of the whole society. This became possible thanks to the development of speech, and later - writing.

Such qualities of a person as hard work, plasticity of thinking, culture of speech develop on the basis of education and upbringing in society. outside human society the formation of a harmoniously developed personality is impossible.

Human evolution is based on biological (mutation process, waves of life, genetic drift, isolation, struggle for existence, natural selection) and social (labor, thinking, speech, public life) factors of evolution. Labor contributed to the unification of human ancestors into groups. The development of speech, the improvement of the collective way of life, the distribution of duties among the members of the group - all this strengthened the role of social factors of anthropogenesis. The word and the thinking associated with it allowed a person to reason logically and generalize the accumulated facts. hallmark human is the presence of a second signaling system.

Man differs from animals in the presence of speech, developed thinking, and the ability to work. How was formed modern man? What are the driving forces of anthropogenesis?

Anthropogenesis (from the Greek. anthropos - man and genesis - origin) - the process of historical and evolutionary formation of man, which is carried out under the influence of biological and social factors.

Biological factors, or the driving forces of evolution, are common to all living nature, including man. They include hereditary variability and natural selection.

The role of biological factors in human evolution was revealed by Ch. Darwin. These factors played a big role in the evolution of man, especially in the early stages of his formation.

A person has hereditary changes that determine, for example, hair and eye color, height, resistance to the influence of factors external environment. In the early stages of evolution, when a person was highly dependent on nature, individuals with hereditary changes that were useful in given environmental conditions (for example, individuals distinguished by endurance, physical force, dexterity, ingenuity).

The social factors of anthropogenesis include labor, social lifestyle, developed consciousness and speech. The role of social factors in anthropogenesis was revealed by F. Engels in his work "The role of labor in the process of transformation of apes into humans" (1896). These factors played a leading role in the later stages of human development.

The most important factor in human evolution is labor. The ability to make tools is unique to man. Animals can only use individual items to get food (for example, a monkey uses a stick to get a treat).

Labor activity contributed to the consolidation of morphological and physiological changes in human ancestors, which are called anthropomorphoses.

An important anthropomorphosis in human evolution was bipedalism. For many generations, as a result of natural selection, individuals with hereditary changes conducive to upright posture have been preserved. Adaptations to upright posture gradually formed: an S-shaped spine, an arched foot, a wide pelvis and chest, and massive bones of the lower extremities.

Upright walking led to the release of the hand. At first, the hand could perform only primitive movements. In the process of labor, she improved, began to fulfill complex actions. Thus, the hand is not only an organ of labor, but also its product. A developed hand allowed a person to make primitive tools. This gave him significant advantages in the struggle for existence.

Joint labor activity contributed to the rallying of the members of the team, necessitated the exchange of sound signals. Communication contributed to the development of the second signaling system - communication with the help of words. At first, our ancestors exchanged gestures, separate inarticulate sounds. As a result of mutations and natural selection, there was a transformation oral apparatus and larynx, the formation of speech.

Labor and speech influenced the development of the brain, thinking. So for a long time, as a result of the interaction of biological and social factors, human evolution was carried out.

If morphological and physiological features If a person is inherited, then the ability to work, speech and thinking develop only in the process of upbringing and education. Therefore, with prolonged isolation of the child, he does not develop at all or develops very poorly speech, thinking, and adaptability to life in society.

Remember:

What are the factors of biological evolution?

Answer. Biological factors, or the driving forces of evolution, are common to all living nature, including man. These include hereditary variability and natural selection.

The role of biological factors in human evolution was revealed by Charles Darwin. These factors played a big role in the evolution of man, especially in the early stages of his formation.

A person has hereditary changes that determine, for example, hair and eye color, height, and resistance to environmental factors. In the early stages of evolution, when a person was highly dependent on nature, individuals with hereditary changes that were useful in given environmental conditions (for example, individuals distinguished by endurance, physical strength, dexterity, quick wit) mainly survived and left offspring.

Questions after § 29

What factor is decisive in the formation of the Homo Sapiens species?

Answer. The decisive factor in the formation of man is social. The social factors of anthropogenesis include labor, social lifestyle, developed consciousness and speech. The role of social factors in anthropogenesis was revealed by Engels in his work "The Role of Labor in the Process of the Transformation of Apes into Man" (1896). These factors played a leading role in the later stages of human development.

Labor activity contributed to the consolidation of morphological and physiological changes in human ancestors, which are called anthropomorphoses.

An important anthropomorphosis in human evolution was bipedalism. For many generations, as a result of natural selection, individuals with hereditary changes conducive to upright posture have been preserved. Adaptations to upright posture gradually formed: an S-shaped spine, an arched foot, a wide pelvis and chest, and massive bones of the lower extremities.

Which communities of ancient people were more likely to be preserved in the selection process?

Answer. The communities of ancient people were subjected to group selection, which favored the preservation of those groups in which the more developed in social relations individuals. This was expressed in the improvement of the inhibitory mechanisms of the brain, which made it possible to reduce mutual aggressiveness, as well as in the development of properties that contributed to the enrichment of knowledge based on one's own and others' experience.

The most important feature of human society is the presence of a fund of social and cultural information that is not biologically inherited and is transmitted from generation to generation through training (and at later stages of the development of society coded in writing) and in the form of tools created by previous generations and other material and spiritual values. The growth and development of this social fund gradually reduced man's dependence on nature, which could not but lead to significant changes in the very nature of man's evolutionary transformations. For any human population fund material culture, accumulated by previous generations, is the most important part of the habitat. Natural selection adapted human collectives to their specific environment - selection in favor of individuals more capable of learning and working, and group selection in favor of collectives in which individuals with more developed social behavior prevailed.

Why do social factors play a leading role in the development of modern man?

Answer. The social factors of anthropogenesis include labor, social lifestyle, developed consciousness and speech. The role of social factors in anthropogenesis was revealed by Engels in his work "The Role of Labor in the Process of the Transformation of Apes into Man" (1896). These factors played a leading role in the later stages of human development.

The most important factor in human evolution is labor. The ability to make tools is unique to man. Animals can only use individual objects to get food (for example, a monkey uses a stick to get a treat).

Labor activity contributed to the consolidation of morphological and physiological changes in human ancestors.

An important change in human evolution was bipedalism. For many generations, as a result of natural selection, individuals with hereditary changes conducive to upright posture have been preserved. Adaptations to upright posture gradually formed: an S-shaped spine, an arched foot, a wide pelvis and chest, and massive bones of the lower extremities.

Upright walking led to the release of the hand. At first, the hand could perform only primitive movements. In the process of labor, she improved, began to perform complex actions. Thus, the hand is not only an organ of labor, but also its product. A developed hand allowed a person to make primitive tools. This gave him significant advantages in the struggle for existence.

Joint labor activity contributed to the rallying of the members of the team, necessitated the exchange of sound signals. Communication contributed to the development of the second signaling system - communication with the help of words. At first, our ancestors exchanged gestures, separate inarticulate sounds. As a result of mutations and natural selection, the oral apparatus and larynx were transformed, and speech was formed.

Labor and speech influenced the development of the brain, thinking. So for a long time, as a result of the interaction of biological and social factors, human evolution was carried out.

If the morphological and physiological characteristics of a person are inherited, then the ability to work, speech and thinking develop only in the process of upbringing and education. Therefore, with prolonged isolation of the child, he does not develop at all or develops very poorly speech, thinking, and adaptability to life in society.

Factors of human evolution

Biological factors of human evolution

Man, like any other biological species, appeared on Earth as a result of the interconnected action of factors in the evolution of the living world. How, then, did natural selection contribute to the consolidation of those morphological features of man, in which he differs from his closest relatives among animals?

The main reasons that forced the once arboreal animals to move to life on earth were the reduction in area rainforest, a corresponding decrease in the food supply and, as a result, an enlargement of the body size. The fact is that an increase in body size is accompanied by an increase in absolute, but a decrease in relative (i.e., per unit body weight) food needs. Large animals can afford to eat less high-calorie foods. The reduction in the area of ​​tropical forests has increased competition between monkeys. Different types approached the problems that confronted them differently. Some have learned to run fast on four limbs and have mastered open terrain (savannah). Baboons are an example. Gorillas, their enormous physical strength allowed them to stay in the forest, while being there is no competition. Chimpanzees were found to be the least specialized of all the great apes. They can deftly climb trees and run quite quickly on the ground. And only hominids solved the problems that confronted them in a unique way: they have mastered locomotion on two legs. Why was this mode of transportation beneficial for them?

One of the consequences of an increase in body size is a lengthening of life expectancy, which is accompanied by a lengthening of the gestation period and a slowdown in the rate of reproduction. In great apes, one cub is born every 5-6 years. His death as a result of an accident turns out to be a very expensive loss for the population. Bipedal great apes managed to avoid such critical situation. Hominids have learned to take care of two, three, four cubs at the same time. But this required more time, effort and attention, which the female had to devote to her offspring. She was forced to give up many other forms of activity, including the search for food. This was done by the males. The release of the forelimbs from participation in movement allowed males to bring more food for females and cubs. In the current situation, movement on four limbs became unnecessary. On the contrary, upright walking gave hominids a number of advantages, the most valuable of which turned out to be the ability to manufacture tools after 2 million years.

Social Factors of Human Evolution

The creation and use of tools increased fitness ancient man. From that moment on, any hereditary changes in his body that turned out to be useful in instrumental activity were fixed by natural selection. The forelimbs underwent an evolutionary transformation. Judging by the fossils and tools, the working position of the hand, the way of gripping, the position of the fingers, and the force tension gradually changed. In the technology of manufacturing tools, the number of strong blows, the number of small and precise movements of the hand and fingers increased, the factor of strength began to give way to the factor of accuracy and dexterity.

A consequence of the use of tools for cutting carcasses and cooking on fire was a decrease in the load on the chewing apparatus. On the human skull, those bony protrusions to which powerful chewing muscles are attached gradually disappeared. The skull became more rounded, the jaws - less massive, the facial section - straightened.

Thus, distinctive features of a person - thinking, speech, the ability to use tools - arose in the course and on the basis of his biological development. Thanks to these features, a person has learned to withstand the adverse effects of the environment to such an extent that his further development began to be determined not so much by biological factors as by the ability to create perfect tools, arrange dwellings, get food, breed livestock and grow edible plants. The formation of these skills occurs through training and is possible only in the conditions of human society, i.e. in social environment. Therefore, tool activity along with in a public way life, speech and thinking are called social factors of human evolution. Children who grew up isolated from people do not know how to speak, are not capable of mental activity, to communicate with other people. Their behavior is more reminiscent of the behavior of animals, among which they found themselves shortly after birth. The formation of man is inextricably linked with the formation of human society.

Correlation of biological and social factors in human evolution. Biological factors played a decisive role in the early stages of hominin evolution. Almost all of them are still active today. Mutational and combi-type variability support the genetic heterogeneity of mankind. Fluctuations in the number of people during epidemics, wars randomly change the frequencies of genes in human populations. These factors together provide material for natural selection, which operates at all stages of human development (culling of gametes with chromosomal rearrangements, stillbirths, barren marriages, death from diseases, etc.).

The only biological factor that has lost its significance in the evolution of modern man is isolation. In the age of perfect technical means The constant migration of people has led to the fact that there are almost no genetically isolated population groups left.

Over the past 40 thousand years, the physical appearance of people has not changed much. But this does not mean the end of human evolution as species. It should be noted that 40 thousand years is only 2% of the time of the existence of the human race. It is extremely difficult to elude the morphological changes of a person in such a short period of time on a geological scale.
With the formation of human society, a special form of communication between generations arose in the form of the continuity of material and spiritual culture. By analogy with the inheritance system genetic information one can speak of a system of inheritance of cultural information. Their differences are as follows. Genetic information is passed from parents to offspring. Cultural information is available to anyone. The death of a person leads to the irrevocable disappearance of a unique combination of his genes. On the contrary, the experience accumulated by a person flows into the universal culture. Finally, the rate of dissemination of cultural information is much more speed transfer of genetic information. The consequence of these differences is that modern man as a social being develops much faster than as a biological being.

In the course of evolution, man has acquired the greatest advantage. He learned to maintain harmony between his unchanging body and changing nature. This is the qualitative originality of human evolution.

Man, like any other biological species, was formed in the process of evolution and is the result of the interaction of its driving forces. Anthropogenesis is based on such biological factors as hereditary variability, the struggle for existence and natural selection. C. Darwin believed that leading role it was natural selection that played in anthropogenesis, and especially one of its forms - sexual selection.

The role of social factors in the process of human origin is considered in the work of F. Engels "The role of labor in the process of transformation of a monkey into a man" (1896). F. Engels showed that it was labor, social life, consciousness and speech that distinguished man from the animal world.

Background of anthropogenesis. The highly developed ability to orientate in the environment and the division of functions between the fore and hind limbs were essential prerequisites for further morphophysiological progress during the transition of tree monkeys to a new habitat, to open treeless spaces.

Movement on two legs at first was ineffective and did not provide any special advantages in the struggle for existence compared to other mammals. However, when the forelimbs were freed from the function of walking, the direction of natural selection changed. Deficiencies in movement speed, little muscle strength, and lack of powerful fangs and claws were offset by the use of tools for defense and attack. Due to the vertical position of the body, the amount of perceived information significantly increased, which made it possible to react in time to the approach of a predator. Since all this is directly related to survival, the pressure of natural selection increased in this direction.

Labor as a factor in human evolution. The release of the hand from the support function, according to F. Engels, was a necessary condition for its further improvement. The hand became completely special body, which could act at a distance with the help of various objects. In addition, the hand began to be used for the manufacture of tools. This skill has been acquired over a long period of time.

In the process of making and using tools, the hand improved functionally and morphologically, which had an impact on the entire body. Some researchers have noted a link between hand function and the development of certain areas of the brain. Increasing pressure of natural selection in an unprecedentedly short time has led to a significant increase in the size of the brain in hominids. For about 1 million years, the average volume of the cranium almost doubled (Fig. 6.25). Apparently, the intensity of selection in this direction was determined by the need to rationally use tools and the need for an effective system of communication, i.e. speech.

Thus, bipedalism freed the forelimb to turn it into an organ of labor activity. The increasing volume of perceived information, together with work activity, led to the rapid development of the brain and the ability to group adaptive behavior.

Public way of life as a factor of evolution. The difficulty of the survival of the ancestors of hominids in the difficult conditions of the struggle for existence during the transition to a terrestrial way of life was aggravated by low fertility. It was easier for a group to resist predators than for individuals. Human ancestors made up for the shortcomings of natural organs with artificial tools. Thus, labor already at its origin was social.

Labor contributed to the rallying of ancient people into collectives. Cases of mutual support and joint activities became more and more frequent. The older members of the team taught the younger generation to find natural materials necessary for the manufacture of tools, taught the methods of making such tools and their use.

Social labor provided big influence on the development of the brain and sense organs. Joint labor activity required coordination. There was a vital need for the exchange of information. In the process of evolution, the ancestors of modern man underwent such changes in the vocal apparatus and brain that led to the appearance of speech.

The interconnected development of social labor, speech and consciousness has led to the improvement of everything human body and humanity in general.

Features of the process of human evolution. The evolutionary transformations of human ancestors, due to the pressure of natural selection, were the biological prerequisites for the development of social relations. Improving the ability to make various tools and use them in their defense, as well as in obtaining food, was a decisive success factor in the struggle for existence and qualitatively separated man from the animal world. However, this did not exclude the effect of the general laws of the development of living nature on man. Biological and

social factors in the process of human evolution operate in parallel, but at different speeds: the first - with a slowdown, the second - with acceleration.

In the early stages of anthropogenesis, natural selection was of decisive importance. First, there was a selection of individuals more capable of making primitive tools for obtaining food and protection from enemies. Gradually, the object of selection becomes such a property characteristic of hominids as herding and the relatively developed forms of communication associated with it. Moreover, individual selection formed mainly morphophysiological features of the organization of the human type (upright walking, developed hand, big brain), and group selection improved social organization (forms of relations in the herd).

A characteristic feature of anthropogenesis is the unidirectionality of evolutionary transformations associated with the gradual development of upright posture, an increase in the ability to accumulate and practically use information about environment(development of the brain and hand), the improvement of the collective way of life.

Having mastered the culture of producing perfect tools of labor, cooking, and arranging dwellings, man isolated himself from adverse climatic factors to such an extent that he got out of the strict control of natural selection and to a large extent began to depend on social conditions and upbringing.

Qualitative differences of a person. The first representative of the genus Homo - skillful man isolated from the animal world on the basis of labor activity. Not just the use of a stick or stone as a tool, but the production of various tools was the line that separated man from humanoid ancestors.

Monkeys often use sticks and stones to get food, as do many animals (one of the Galapagos finches, the sea otter). No matter how striking the manipulations of animals with various objects, they are either accidental, or arose on the basis of conditioned reflexes, or are caused by programmed behavioral features and do not directly determine their survival.

The general plan of the structure of the human body is the same as that of all mammals. Differences are associated with upright walking, the presence of speech and the ability to work. The human skeleton differs from the skeleton of all mammals, including the great apes, in the shape of the spine, chest and pelvis, structural features of the limbs, their proportions.

In connection with upright posture, four curves of the spine were formed in a person. The balance of the skull on the cervical vertebrae is ensured by moving the foramen magnum closer to the center of the base of the skull (Fig. 6.26).

Bipedalism and labor activity of a person also affected the proportions of the body. The bones of the lower limbs in humans are longer than the homologous bones of the upper limbs, the stable position of the body on long legs is ensured by the shortening of the spinal column (Fig. 6.27). The chest is flattened in the dorsal-abdominal direction, the pelvic bones are in the shape of a bowl (due to pressure from the organs of the chest and abdominal cavity) (Fig. 6.28). The monkey's originally flat grasping foot acquired an arched structure (Fig. 6.29). The human hand is distinguished by its small size, thinness and mobility, the ability to a variety of movements. The thumb is set aside and can be opposed to all the others, thanks to which a person is able not only to grab an object, as monkeys do, but also to grasp it, which has great importance during operation (Fig. 6.30).

In connection with the development of the brain, the brain part of the skull reached its largest size (up to 1500 cm 3). In terms of volume, it is 4 times larger than the front one (in primates, this ratio is 1: 1). The lower jaw is horseshoe-shaped, with a protruding chin, which is associated with speech activity and development of the musculature of the tongue.

A distinctive feature of the higher nervous activity of a person is the presence of a second signaling system, under which I.P. Pavlov understood the word; as well as the abstract thinking associated with it, the construction of logical chains and generalizations.

A person is characterized by a special, not related to genetic mechanisms, form of information transmission in a number of generations - the continuity of culture, knowledge, traditions. The experience acquired by a person throughout his life does not disappear with him, but becomes an integral part of the universal culture. All this became possible thanks to the development of speech, and then writing.

Morphophysiological features of a person are inherited. However, the human body is not yet a person in the social sense. Abilities for labor activity, thinking and speech develop in the process of individual development of a person on the basis of upbringing and education. Outside of human society, the formation of specific human qualities is impossible.

There are cases of development of children under the age of 5 years in isolation from other people. After returning to normal conditions, their ability to speak and think either developed very poorly or did not develop at all (depending on the age at which the child entered isolation).

Anthropogenesis is based on biological (hereditary variability, struggle for existence and natural selection) and social (labor, social life, consciousness and speech) factors. Labor was already social in its inception. It was easier for a group to resist predators than for individuals. Joint labor activity required coordination of actions, necessitated signaling not only with gestures, but also with sounds, which led to the appearance of speech. The interconnected development of social labor, speech and consciousness has led to the improvement of the entire human organism and humanity as a whole. Overall plan The structure of the human body is the same as that of all mammals. Differences are associated with upright walking, the presence of speech and the ability to work. A distinctive feature of the higher nervous activity of a person is the presence of a second signaling system.