The Agent Intellect and Human Cognitive Abilities in the Lower Paleolithic

Abstract

Two different processes are found in human evolu- tion: the process of hominization and the process of humanization. The first refers to the morphological changes that culminate in H sapiens and the second refers to cultural achievements. Until the end of the last century, it was thought that cultural achievements of hominid types such as Australopithecines, H habilis and H erectus obeyed to sensorial knowledge, specifically the cognitive operation of the imagination which does not require abstraction to think in a sensorial way. Intellectual thought was only recognized in H sapiens including archaic H sapiens because of the symbolic meaning associated with works and behaviors such as rock art and burials. Sensorial knowledge refers to the imaginative association and the use of the most rudimentary conditional reasoning: if A then B. However, discoveries in experimental archaeology in the last two decades claim abstract knowledge for the manufacture of the oldest stone tools known which date to 3.3 million years ago. What philosophical validity have these archaeological advances? How are such recent advances integrated into Polo's transcendental anthropology? This article is a brief answer to these questions.