Causal cognition and early technologie

How to investigate the evolution of cognition ? This raises important methodological considerations, and in particular we need to consider the role of changes in ecology.

Consider the evolution of causal thinking. It can be decomposed into several stages. The first stages, involving bodily movements as causes, are common between human and non-human animals. By contrast, reasoning from effects to causes, such as inferring the presence of an animal from its track, is almost never found in non-human animals, whereas it is ubiquitous in humans. Reasoning about inanimate causes also seems very limited in non-human animals, while humans can exploit physical and chemical causes. A main thesis is that an increasing emphasis on technical engagement made some hominins capable of reasoning about the forces involved in causal processes. The causal thinking required for Stone Age hunting technologies such as throwing spears, bow hunting and the use of poisoned arrows is analyzed. The technologies serve as evidence for the evolutionary expansion of causal cognition.

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