The Theological Significance of Michael Tomasello's Evolutionary Anthropology

进化人类学是一个迅速发展的研究领域，到目前为止，神学一直忽视甚至忽视了这一领域。该研究项目旨在从神学人类学的角度对进化人类学的一个主要分支--迈克尔·托马塞罗的方法--的潜力和界限进行重建和批判性评估。在第一步中，有必要彻底检查和重建托马塞罗的方法，以确定其人类学影响，并向神学研究界介绍他的理论的主要支柱。这种对托马塞罗方法的重建将被嵌入到对进化论方法与神学人类学的相关性的方法论分析中。此后，将进行神学人类学的两个示范案例研究，因为它们有助于评估进化人类学的范围和局限性。案例研究将分析身心问题和自由的能力。这项研究项目的工作假设包括假设各自的人类学相互插补是可能的和富有成效的。神学人类学可以从思考特定人类能力的起源中获益，因为它可能会对它们有更深的理解，而不需要接受还原的自然主义。然而，进化人类学应该考虑神学人类学的核心见解，特别是关于自由能力和追问人的存在意义的核心能力的条件。因此，与进化人类学的接触可能有助于确保神学人类学的跨学科纠缠。同时，对进化人类学的边界和盲点进行批判性的审视，可能会显示出神学人类学的跨学科潜力。

Evolutionary Anthropology is a rapidly growing field of research which has been neglected or even disregarded by theology so far. The research project aims at a reconstruction and critical evaluation of the potentials and boundaries of one of the major strands in evolutionary anthropology, namely Michael Tomasello’s approach, from a perspective of theological anthropology. In a first step, it is necessary to thoroughly examine and reconstruct Tomasello’s approach in order to identify its anthropological impact and to introduce the main pillars of his theory to the theological research community. This reconstruction of Tomasello’s approach will be embedded in a methodological analysis of the relevance of evolutionary approaches for theological anthropology. Thereafter, two exemplary case studies in theological anthropology will be conducted, as they help to evaluate the scope and the limits of evolutionary anthropology. The case studies will analyse the mind-body problem and the capability of freedom. The working hypothesis of the research project consists in the assumption that mutual interpolations of the respective anthropologies are possible and fruitful. Theological anthropology could profit from considering the genesis of specific human capabilities as it might gain a deeper understanding of them without the necessity to embrace a reductive naturalism. Evolutionary anthropology, however, should take core insights of theological anthropology, especially regarding the conditions of the capability of freedom and the core capability to ask for the meaning of one’s existence, into consideration. Hence, an engagement with evolutionary anthropology may help to ensure the interdisciplinary entanglement of theological anthropology. At the same time, a critical examination of the boundaries and blind spots of evolutionary anthropology may demonstrate the interdisciplinary potentials of theological anthropology.