Anthropology

Jared Diamonds Guns, Germs and Steel The Fates of Human History was widely acclaimed as one of the most detailed exposition of the natural history of humankind. Much of his expositions came from fieldworks and studies done around the world. Such studies that conceived the said book were seen through a very particular perspective. Hence, my thesis statement is that his view on the history of humankind was largely environmentally deterministic.

Many philosophers and scholars view the history of humankind differently and some of the most known thinkers who thought about how the history of humankind came about came from George W. F. Hegel and Karl Marx. Their views were the ones often contrasted on how our history is faring. The formers see human history as a dialectical process where ideas govern every activity and event that shaped our course to the present. On the other hand, the latter see human history as based upon material bases used by various social classes to shape the course of human history. Such material bases are grounded on the economic base structure of the society. Nevertheless, Marx recognized the dialectical process that is shaping human history where these bases are the primary actors unlike Hegels ideas. And instead of these ideas reacting to each other to form the Geist, Marx argued that the material bases that served as the thesis and antithesis of human history will soon form a society that is devoid of contradictions and class struggle created by such material acquisitions in the near future.

From such views, sociologists either try to see look at societies around the world as governed by consensus or conflict where people were the primary actors shaping the course of humankind. Most social scientists think this way however, certain natural scientists think otherwise. In this light, Charles Darwin had a profound impact on the way some social scientists view our history. They are called social Darwinists whose ideas are grounded upon Darwins idea of evolution and survival of the fittest. As such, the point of this exposition is that there may be those who view our history from one perspective where humans are the actors against the backdrop of a rapidly changing human societies, there are also those who view the humankind history from an environmentally deterministic point of view.

Now, the words  environment and deterministic seem as recurring terms and thus will be as such throughout this article, thus, it is imperative that we analyze and try to deconstruct these words against the backdrop of the previous views on history explained on the preceding paragraphs. This will be necessary to help us understand how Jared Diamond came up with his book Guns, Germs and Steel.

First, the word environment connotes various meanings. Throughout the course of human history, environment has well influenced the thoughts and ingenuities of people around the world. From the time where the first man discovered the fire to the time where he created the first agricultural society, environment can be seen as an integral aspect of their lives. What does environment connotes This term implies something that is outside of mans body that can have profound impacts on his being. Environment readily connotes the ecological surrounding upon which the individual resides and depends for his survival.

As can be seen in the modern history of humankind, environment was usually overlooked and its impacts on human societies were seen as rarely influential. Most of the times the people looked upon events and influential figures of history where they play decisive roles such as liberating states and nations or leading as such to victories in war. What they usually miss is that the environment surrounding them was the one responsible why they adapt to such conditions. Why do they come to such constitution is because their environment compels them to. From the hunting and gathering societies and slave societies to fiefdoms and the modern capitalist system, the environment have been one of the most influential entities governing the course of humankinds history.

The environment surrounding the people has been very influential in the way they shaped the way humans have to think to adapt and survive in such precarious situations. For instance, people who live in desert lands have learned to depend on certain plants for water storage and thus for them to be able to survive. Another case is for those individuals who live in tropical islands they were able to learn the way how to distinguish which among variations of plants in their surroundings were the ones edible and which are not. Moreover, they were able to use several measures on how to maximize their capabilities of gathering food and thus surviving. These are the cases by which environment can be said to have influenced the histories of societies around the world.

There is a section in Diamonds book that tackles the importance of environment as necessitys mother. By necessity, this refers to saying that goes necessity is the mother of invention. Nonetheless, Jared Diamond is referring to here of the environment being the mother of the very necessities that compel human societies to turn to their ingenuities and build various equipment and machines to aid them in their daily endeavors.

Why do people build wheels Why do people learned about domestication Why do people invent guns It is because all of these things were the ones necessary for a man to be able to adapt to and maximize the capacity of his environment for him to live to see another day. Indeed, environment shapes the course of humankinds history. Now, we turn to the word deterministic from my thesis statement regarding the said book.

When we say deterministic, it implies hierarchy not in authority but in capacity to determine the being of something by something that is higher and more advanced in its propensity to do so as such. For instance, when you say that your being is determined by your birth and you do not have the freedom to choose what life you would have to take, we say that the virtue of your birth in a particular nationality is that higher being that made you to what you are.

Now, during the course of your life, your decisions were not being largely based upon your own decisions yourself. No man is an island, they say, and your decisions, whims, and caprices will always be based upon something that came external of you, that is, from your surroundings. In this case, you are being determined by your environment.

Going back to Diamonds Guns, Germs and Steel, it is clear that he is implying the situation where the natural histories of various human societies around the world are largely dependent upon their surroundings. For instance, the Aboriginal societies in Australia could not have gone through until now if not for their ingenuity and their incredible ability to adapt in their environment in spite of living in one of the driest places on earth. They could have been able to reproduce such a society if not for their ability to use their environment to their own advantage. Nevertheless, their ingenuities were still determined by such an environment. They could have choose to invent an air conditioning system to cool their houses but they choose to live in small huts that facilitates proper air flow created out of indigenous materials located in their area. Such a situation is the very picture of what the term deterministic implies.

However, you may certainly argue that deterministic is very constraining a term. Indeed, it is a constraining term, hence it is deterministic. But somehow, the term itself allows a room for you to think that deterministic does not necessarily allow you to be passive at all. Deterministic implies that, human societies for this matter are not passive creatures going along with the whims of their environment. This implies a dialectical relationship between societies and their environments where the latter provides the groundwork for the former while societies depend upon the cunningness of the human mind to create various mechanisms for their own good.

As such, Jared Diamonds claims as being environmentally deterministic, I will now try to contrast such thesis with mainstream views of human history. While there are various sociological theories that try to unravel the wonders and blunders of human history, one theory emerged as that which is very influential in the way many social scientists view the evolution of human history. I am referring to the idealistic view of human history. This view traces its roots from Hegels dialectics and has been used analyze the course of events for the past several hundred years.

The idealistic point of view contends that the history of humankind is governed by the flow of ideas  dominant ideas that stem from influential figures and events in our history. For instance, they modern societies today that profess to a liberal democratic type of government as the creation of the French Revolution where the ideas of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality echoed through France and the Western world in general, while the Bastille, the vestiges of a despotic and capricious monarchy, crumbles to the ground.

Even neoliberal globalization will be argued as the brainchild of a liberal point of view that sees states and governments as necessary to propel the economy of a country, but not so much as to intervene in the natural laws and processes of such system. This is the idealistic point of view of history. Now, if we contrast it with the way Diamond sees the history of mankind, he will argue that such ideas will came in as necessary as societies advance to modern times. The point however is that, these ideas will never advance to the modern age if not for the dictates of their environment. This is how Jared Diamond would see such situation if these perspectives were juxtaposed with each other.
Societies from around the world arguably started out as nomadic, hunting and gathering bands because during the pre-historic times, there are still plenty of resources and world population was scant. Now, when the people learned agriculture, they started to settle down and build the first societies that use advanced technology for survival. Diamond will argue that modern societies now will not come about if not for those things.

The present times is a clear manifestation of how environment could influence the way people think. During the advent of the 20th century, the world saw rapidly changing societies where countries are perceived to be on the pinnacle of technological advancements that there seems to be no stopping them as such. From information technologies and wireless communication to war machines and space race, it is arguably the height of technologies around the world. Yet, in the face of such advancements is the continued degradation of the environment. Henceforth, global warming and greenhouse effect became the talk of the century. But it was never seen as much of threat not until the dawn of the 21st century came.

During this period, people became more aware and concerned of their environment. Along with such growing concern, natural scientists around the world verified the possibility and threats of global warming. In this situation, environment now plays a very influential role in determining what the people think. Nowadays, people around the world confront such issues whether through local adaptations of indigenous societies to mitigation of highly urbanized ones. Environmental degradation such idea of preventing global warming and climate change that re shaping the economic and political systems within the international landscape of the world.

Diamond might be right in this aspect. However, certain perspective in the history of humankind might argue otherwise. A dialectical materialist point of view might argue that human history is governed by contradictions in societies around the world based on the social classes that composed such societies. Such social classes exist according to the materials of production, that is the private properties that they possess. This, in turn, shapes the economic base of the society. Such base determines the political structure and thus, the system that governs individuals and societies around the world. In this case, environment only plays as one of the objects in the materials of production that a particular class might possess. The more important factor that determines the history of humankind is the class struggle that shapes each and every known society.

Let us consider the issue of global warming and climate change, according to the point of view of environmental determinism, perspectives on such issue came from the perceived conditions of the environment surrounding us now. On the other hand, dialectical materialists might argue otherwise and claim that this heated issue is not a supra-class one. Instead, climate change came about, in the first place, because of the way the ruling classes present in modern capitalists economies treat their environments. Now, they frantically search for clues on how climate change came about, pointing fingers at everyone, and still on their search for answers to the said dilemma.

This is how they will view this issue, unlike the idealistic point of view or a largely environmentally deterministic point of view. The environment surrounding these societies is just a witness to an ongoing struggle for political and economic power in society. Much as it has been the witness, it has also been and still being used as an instrument by these classes. Indeed, environmental determinism may prove to be a perspective that can be used upon viewing the history of mankind but still, it provides more question than answers much as the other perspectives do.

In Jared Diamonds Guns, Germs and Steel The Fates of Human History, he arguably presented gripping arguments as to how modern societies came about from such nomadic societies of the pre-historic times. From the weapons that pre-historic people created which became the predecessors of modern war machines to plagues that haunted in each every society around the world across the times, Diamonds arguments are as contentious as they are compelling. While we are provided with unquestionable data from his book, there are still questions such book failed to answer and through a careful reading of the said book, you will see such loopholes. I have seen some and by suing the environmental determinism perspective viz-a-viz idealistic and materialist points of view in history, I was able to stir some questions in the history of humankind that baffled me much as it did to you, I believe.

The point therefore is that, there are many perspectives from which we can view our history. Environmental determinism is one and Jared Diamonds work is one clear example as such. Now, we only have to be very aware that these perspectives have their strengths and weaknesses, we only have to possess critical thinking  one thing that, if it has been because of our surrounding that we came to possess such skill, we have to use for our own good in each of our own battle for survival in this dog-eat-dog world.