Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Negotiated realities – rethinking the evolution of human language and culture

Mr Kelvin Dixon

The last decade has seen major developments in our understanding of human evolution. Bridging the gap between varied disciplines, Kelvin Dixon seeks a fresh perspective on the evolution of human culture and language through the earliest stone tools.

Doors open 7pm for a 7.30pm event start:

We are holding this free Cafe Scientifique session on Wednesday 23 October 2024 from 7pm, talk starting at 7.30pm, in the “Den”, Mickelgate Social, 148-150 Mickelgate on the corner of Bar Lane, York. 

Member’s report

Café Sci was treated to an enthusiastic presentation by Kelvin Dixon on Negotiated Realities-Rethinking the Evolution of Human Culture and Language. With the aid of a 15 minute film, Kelvin explained that developments in palaeoanthropology offered a more complicated picture than previously thought and there is a need to think more in terms of symbolic, emotional and physical behaviour alongside purely linguistic traits. Things which were previously thought to be unique to human beings have been found in other species, for example, in dolphins which have been shown to use vocalised monicas. If we think simply in linear ways then we miss out on the bigger picture which shows that our culture is cumulative, and this is not limited to humans but can be found across the animal world. This is true of semiosis, which is a way of modelling reality. Signs do not exist on their own but involve both the mind and the body and provide the agential factor in evolution. Kelvin introduced us to an interdependent triangle of reality, belief and knowledge and the repeated behaviour across generations of which human language is just one aspect. Reality, however, is dynamic and can never be fully known; it is all a question of interpretation.

Dorothy Nott