Intro to Physical Anthropology Chap 1,2,3 - 1217 Words

Chapter One-Introduction Anthropology: the study of humans in all times, situations, and places. Physical Anthropology: the scientific study of humans as biological organisms, in an evolutionary context. Branches of Physical Anthropology: Human evolution: the study of how and why our human ancestors changed over millions of years. Genetics: the mechanics of inheritance and how evolutionary change works. Paleoanthropology: the study of the fossil record of ancestral humans and their primate relatives. Anthropometry: measurement of the human body, particularly the skeleton, e.g. craniometry. Medical Anthropology: the study of health, illness, and healing from a cultural and/or cross-cultural perspective.†¦show more content†¦(Jean-Baptiste Lamarck- 19th century). Evolution is not about orthogenesis, the belief that evolution is moving in a straight direction due to a driving force. Philosophical Stances and Evolution Theistic Evolution- acceptance of evolution combined with a belief in an involvement of a divine creator. Science and religion as complementary to each other, not opposed. Atheistic Evolution- acceptance of evolution combined with a belief that there is no divine creator, or no God. More scientists likely adopt this position( e.g Richard Dawkins) with a tendency to see science as right and religion as wrong. Creation Science (Intelligent Design)- complex living systems must have been designed supernaturally( e.g. the human brain or the human eye). Concept of irreducible complexity( an attempt to be scientific) Ex. X is a complicated system made up of interconnected parts. If you take any of the parts away, X wont work. Therefore, X could not have evolved from a simpler state, as anything less than the full set of parts work not work. -Nothing intermediate can exist. Natural Selection Species typically produce more offspring than their environment can sustain. Individuals that are better fit within that environment will survive. They will produce offspring with a good chance of inheriting the favorable traits. There is a better chance of the traits being passed on when sexual selection is at