Hypothesis and explanation in human evolution

Abstract

Many attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens have been hampered by a failure to incorporate evolutionary limitations and adhere to proper scientific methodology. Models of human evolution should be strictly derived from general evolutionary hypotheses which have been tested and to some extent verified with living forms. To preserve the testability of such models, researchers should begin by determining the environmental parameters faced by the hominids in the past and then design alternative evolutionary pathways in an attempt to retrodict the characteristics of modern humans. Differences between retrodictions would then provide tests of alternative explanations. Traits of modern humans should not be used, other than determining taxonomic relationships with fossil species, in creating a model, since the model would then become a tautological explanation and not a scientific hypothesis.