The origin of man: basic theories

The origin of man is studied by different sciences, among them anthropology, philosophy, history, theology, paleontology and others. In connection with this, today there is a rather large number of theories of the emergence of people: a social individual, a product of activity of extraterrestrial civilizations, a biological being, etc. Until now, none of the existing theories is strictly proven. It is quite difficult to characterize all existing theories, but it is quite possible to consider the most convincing theories.

The most popular theories of the origin of man are creationism (divine creation) and Darwinism (evolutionary origin).

In creationism, there are several hypotheses. According to one of them, people descended from the gods. In another, man was created by a single god. Most scholars reject such religious and philosophical interpretations. About half of the scientific world and other researchers of this issue share the ideas of Darwinism, based on the fact that the origin of man is associated with natural selection.

Creationism is characterized by more philosophical views than scientific ones. Versions of this theory range from purely theological to quite confidently claiming for scientific character. Creationists reject evolution and make determined attempts to scientifically prove the facts described in the Bible. The hypothesis of creation can hardly be proved or disproved, therefore it will always exist along with scientific theories.

According to the theory of Darwin, the origin of man became possible due to the evolution of monkeys, who learned to hold a stick in their hands and stood on two legs. This theory is based on a serious basis of facts and anthropological data, represents a harmonious scientific system.

The creator of the evolutionary theory summarized the results of the achievements of biology, breeding practice and his own observations. He was able to substantiate the hypothesis, in which he explained the origin of man by the evolution of a monkey. According to his theory, the variety of animals and plants that inhabit the Earth is the result of frequent mutations, which are summed up over centuries and millennia. Then natural selection begins . Unadapted to life individuals and species are pushed to the periphery, allowing a faster development of another, which turned out to be more adapted to the new conditions.

On the basis of Darwin's theory, such a concept as anthropogenesis was derived, which today is understood as the process of isolation from the animal world of man. It is believed that the most distant ancestors of humans were the anthropoid apes, which in their evolution passed several stages before the formation of the final result. The line of evolution is lined up in this way: australopithecus (a man of skill) - pithecanthropus (right-browing man) - paleanthropic (Neanderthal man) - Cro-Magnon (intelligent man). It should be said that a hundred years ago this theory completely suited the scientific world. But at the present time all the new facts that lead to criticism of Darwinism are being revealed.

Today, a theory that explains the origin of man on Earth by external intervention is also very popular. According to her, people appeared on Earth thanks to the activities of other civilizations. According to one hypothesis, modern people are descendants of aliens who landed on Earth in prehistoric times. More complex hypotheses suggest that man appeared due to the crossing of representatives of other planets with the ancestors of modern earthlings; Thanks to genetic engineering, spatial anomalies, etc. However, many of these theories resemble the idea of divine intervention.