Barbara J. King, chancellor professor of anthropology at the College of William & Mary, is the author, most recently, of “How Animals Grieve.”
When traveling in a foreign city, or even just working late at the office, we may suddenly be flooded with a feeling: I just want to go home. There’s a scientific reason behind that yearning, says neuroanthropologist John S. Allen. Unlike any other species, he writes in his new book, we are “fundamentally home-minded.”
In his engaging and informative natural history, “Home,” Allen explores “how habitat made us human.” To demonstrate, he takes readers on an evolutionary tour, with stops at ape nests, ancestral human hearths and American cities where thousands go without homes.
Rest, restoration and relationships — what I will call the 3Rs — are at the heart of home for us, Allen writes. Home isn’t just a physical place, it is also a cognitive one shaped by our biology and our culture. “You can’t buy a home,” Allen explains. Rather, a home is something “that you have to build yourself, according to the blueprints drawn from your evolutionary history, cultural traditions, and personal experiences.” We create — or try to create — a space that shelters our bodies and minds from the outside world and, through its comfortable familiarity, calms our senses so that we may focus on food, rest and social interaction.
For humans, a “feeling for home” may have arisen about 2 million years ago with hom*o erectus, our ancestor who first controlled fire. The ancient hearth was more than just a food-processing site, it was a place where children were raised, tools constructed and emotions communicated. Our modern homes are more architecturally complex but no less centered on our cooperation to satisfy basic evolved needs; throughout human history, home has been and still is “a venue for pooling energy resources.”
What is the difference between a place of rest and a home? Allen looks to zoology for answers. High in the forest canopy, for example, chimpanzees carefully construct nests of vegetation each night. These nests are places of rest but, Allen says, not homes, because they are rarely built in the same spot twice and don’t house much social interaction. Prairie dogs, interestingly, make something more closely related to human-style homes: Their large colonies are divided into households and even into specialized rooms such as nurseries and sleeping areas — hallmarks of home-building.
To understand what makes a home, we must look also at the flip side, Allen argues: how we experience being without one. Allen examines the deep trauma faced by homeless children and adults. He also argues that some people are “physically housed, but cognitively homeless.” With a roof over their heads but no home capable of providing the 3Rs, people may find themselves “in an emotionally vulnerable and distressed state.”
Allen’s treatment of all things home is broad in scope yet weakened by important omissions. Allen halts his survey of prehistory abruptly with Neanderthals about 30,000 years ago, with no consideration of what home meant for hom*o sapien cave artists, farmers and early city-dwellers. More important, Allen’s sense of home is limited. Early on, he recognizes the “cultural fluidity” of the household unit, going well beyond the nuclear family. Later, though, discussing single-dweller homes, his tone verges on the dismissive. “Some people live alone, and quite successfully and happily. That’s all well and good,” he writes, “but most people live all or most of their lives with other people.” He declares that “obviously, the most important relationship within the home, as it is with all primates, is between a mother and her offspring,” which isn’t obvious (or necessarily true) at all. While it’s correct that “for many people” the “relationship between a reproducing human male and female” is the primary one, a broader definition would be welcome and more accurate.
Moreover, why are all the homes Allen considers so thoroughly human-centric? Where are the cats, dogs, bunnies, birds, snakes, fish and other animals with whom we reside? My own home is a restorative place precisely because it includes another species, and I suspect it is little different for millions around the world who choose to live with animal companions.
A question inevitably emerges: When even at home our flashing computers and trilling cellphones tug constantly at our attention, can those homes possibly remain the places “of recovery” that they have been for us in the past?
CORRECTION: This review initially incorrectly attributed data about the percentage of households connected to the Internet to the Pew Charitable Trusts. It was collected by the Pew Research Center.
How Habitat Made Us Human
By John S. Allen.
Basic Books. 292 pp. $28.99
FAQs
The three traits described are bipedalism, language, and tool making. This video assumes some familiarity with the theory of evolution, the process of how organisms developed from earlier forms of life. Evolution is not a linear process, but a dynamic one.
Do you think that human beings are essentially good, bad, or a combination of both? ›
Human beings are a combination of both good and bad. Schopenhauer's conception of the will as a blind striving for existence suggests that the true core of the personality is the will, which is fundamentally blind and without knowledge .
What is the good nature of humans? ›
Mencius believed that human nature is good and made up of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. He regarded the heart as the place where human nature originates and develops, where one can recognize the goodness of one's nature and the brightness of one's inner heart.
What makes humans great and not so great? ›
Here are some reasons why humans are often regarded as great: Cognitive Abilities:Humans have advanced cognitive abilities, including reasoning, problem-solving, and abstract thinking. Our ability to learn, adapt, and innovate has led to remarkable achievements in science, technology, and various intellectual pursuits.
What is human nature fundamentally? ›
Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or what it 'means' to be human.
What is the fundamental of human life? ›
So what are the fundamentals to human life? Most basically speaking: (1) an overarching sense of meaningful origin and destination, (2) healthy family relationships, (3) good friends, (4) marriage and children, (5) being a contributing member of a community, and (6) clear understanding of right and wrong.
Do you think human beings are naturally good or bad? ›
For centuries, philosophers have attempted to answer the question of whether humans are naturally good or evil. Despite the publication of thousands of works on the subject, no satisfactory answer seems to have been found.
Are humans essentially selfish? ›
Many people believe that humans are hardwired to be selfish, and there's scientific evidence to back that up. But just because we're born with an innate desire to serve ourselves, that doesn't mean we have to live a completely selfish life.
Is human nature originally good or evil? ›
Human nature is originally good. Any evil in it results from the changes made upon it by external things. Of man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world for all our woe. –Lu Wang (1139−1192), Chinese Philosopher and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Why are people fundamentally good? ›
The inherent goodness in human nature, according to Frankl, is found in our freedom and responsibility to seek meaning, even in the face of adversity. This can be likened to the sailor's innate desire to find their way, to survive, and to reach their destination.
' Just over a century later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau countered that human nature is essentially good, and that we could have lived peaceful and happy lives well before the development of anything like the modern state.
What is the true nature of humans? ›
In a world that often feels disconnected and fast-paced, it is essential to reconnect with the essence of being human. Our true nature encompasses qualities such as empathy, connection, diversity, kindness, and nurturing relationships.
Are humans still evolving? ›
A group of closely-related organisms that have common physical and genetic characteristics and are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring. As humans, we experience dramatically fewer hazards today than we did in our early evolution. However, genetic studies indicate that we are still evolving.
What is something only humans can do? ›
Blushing. Humans are the only species known to blush, a behavior Charles Darwin called "the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions." It remains uncertain why people blush, involuntarily revealing our innermost emotions (though we do know how it works).
How much better would the earth be without humans? ›
You'd notice the weather. After a year without people, the sky would be bluer, the air clearer. The wind and the rain would scrub clean the surface of the Earth; all the smog and dust that humans make would be gone.
What are the fundamental characteristics of being human? ›
These six universal traits are Intuitive, Self-Centered, Emotional, Motivated, Social, and Hopeful.
What makes us a human person? ›
Human beings are anatomically similar and related to the great apes but are distinguished by a more highly developed brain and a resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning. In addition, human beings display a marked erectness of body carriage that frees the hands for use as manipulative members.
What biologically makes us human? ›
The human feature that is most extraordinary is the brain. The relative size, scale, and capacity of the human brain are greater than those of any other species. The size of the human brain relative to the total weight of the average human is 1-to-50. Most other mammals have a ratio of only 1-to-180.
What is the one thing that makes us human? ›
One of the biggest things I find that separates ourselves from other animals is “empathic resonance.” It's the feeling we get when we're with other humans, sharing and being in community with one another. We feel each other's joy or feel each other's pain.
