Developmental Dynamics in Humans and Other Primates

Quick Look

Expands on Louis Bolk's evolutionary theory and proposes that humans have not descended from apes, but rather that apes have evolved by diverging from a humanlike prototype.

Description

In this book, Jos Verhulst expands on the evolutionary theory first proposed by Louis Bolk. The theory is based on the premise that aspects of the individual creatures' development -- from juveniles to adults -- are also at work in animal evolution as a whole.

Verhulst shows that, unlike other primates -- who start out with a rather humanlike form but become, say, apes -- humans retain their original fetal form. Standing Darwinism on its head, he argues that humans have not descended from apes, but rather that apes have evolved by diverging from a humanlike prototype.

He also proposes that the gradually emerging human prototype is the driving force, and central trunk, of the evolutionary tree -- the wellspring from which the animal world has sprung.

Table of Contents

1. Basic Issues in Human Evolution
2. Fetalization and Retardation
3. Growth and Retardation
4. The Animal Element in Humans
5. The Upper Limbs
6. Uprightness
7. The Organs of the Thorax
8. Human Reproduction
9. The Facial Skull
10. The Phenomenon of Synergistic Composition

Reviews

'Most remarkable is the way in which Conford demonstraes the rich interactions between the organic movement and wide range of other tendencies in intellectual endeavour, social and economic change, and politicalo struggle.'
-- Timothy Cooper, University of Exeter

'A tour de force: a refreshingly original, profound and thought-provoking synthesis rooted in impressive scholarship. Creative science at its best.'
-- Martin Lockley, Professor of Palaeontology, University of Colorado

'An astounding wealth of little-noted facts. Though some readers may not agree with his conclusions, all will find the rich content extremely thought-provoking.'
-- Wolfgang Schad, Professor of Morphology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Witten, Germany

'Verhulst argues convincingly that there is more to evolution than just Darwinian natural selection. If you are in any way curious about our origins, I invite you to read this book.'
-- Kenneth J. McNamara, Senior Curator, Invertebrate Palaeontology, Western Australia Museum

Author

Jos Verhulst was born in Belgium in 1949. He has a PhD in theoretical chemistry and has been widely published in the areas of evolutionary theory and comparative anatomy. He teaches science at the Waldorf School in Antwerp, Belgium.

Links

You may also be interested in:
Friedrich Kipp: Childhood and Human Evolution
Functional Morphology
Harmony of the Human Body
Animals: An Imaginative Zoology
How Humanity Came Into Being