What is that theory of human nature? Well, that we are the way we are because our ancestors were forced to become a predatory species/hunting-ape and couldn't stay in and around trees picking fruits. Millions of years ago in Africa the forests started to disappear, and the apes could either cling onto whatever was left, or leave the "garden of Eden" and enter into competition with the predators on the ground. Ape populations have dwindled since, and we have emerged the apex predator. To get to that point we had to overcome the other predators, but with inferior equipment so to speak; no fangs or claws. So we made use of two things carried over to a certain degree from our ape past; intelligence and social communication. "His whole body, his way of life, was geared to a forest existence, and then suddenly he was jettisoned into a world where he could survive only if he began to live like a brainy, weapon toting wolf."
Our social lives are to this day built on a sort of tension between social communication and intellect (from ape life) and obedience and violence from our predatory existence. Vestiges of our ape life are our greater reliance on sight at the expense of smell and a more various taste palate. Our predator life involves traveling greater distances to find game, rather than remaining close to the trees, having a home base to protect and return to, and having regular meals rather than momentary snacking. Being a predatory ape means developing ways to facilitate male cooperation, to hunt together with dangerous weapons, and to guarantee a share of the kills and a female for the effort. Monogamy and private property likely arise from a need to secure the loyalty of males to females and children while they hunted and prevent conflict among the males. This isn't all bad, as the predator life means some degree of male solidarity. We can't have a single alpha male who gets exclusive access to women and food. The ability to cooperate and use weapon technology means the lesser males can gang up and resist, limit, or kill the alpha male. Thus some satisfactory distribution of females and resources becomes necessary for social order, and this is likely where marriage and property and even government developed from.
Morris channels Sigmund Freud and argues that religion emerges from the guilt of (symbolically) killing the alpha ape. Even with all his faults, an all powerful male does instill some sort of order and security which is socially useful. You knew where you stood, and the alpha ape in a way encouraged exogamous mating, preventing incest by kicking the sons out of the harem. So religion projects the seemingly omnipotent alpha ape onto the cosmos, extending its influence to our personal lives without actually being here.
There are several downsides that ape life has: lack of cooperation (among males), a pecking order with one individual on top, and less incentive to control nature. Ape and monkey society is more about competition and dominance, and dependent on nature providing food for the picking. Depending on the environment means not traveling too far and remaining close, thus reducing the need for defense of home as well as needing to know what others are up to as they aren't far. If we just forage for food, there isn't a need to cooperate. It's "finders keepers", and so dominance becomes more important. The alpha male gets the first pick, and so long as everybody abides conflict can be avoided, with little need to work together other than staying out of the big guy's way.
Despite all these downsides, we are still closest to the apes. We haven't evolved to be complete predators, just enough behaviors to utilize our intelligence and social cooperation to survive and thrive. And we only evolved that way because the environment made us, forced us out east of Eden. It seems that much of our aesthetics, tastes, curiosity, and enjoyment of life are owed to our more ape aspects. A pure predator kind of society would resemble the Spartans I think. What we do in leisure however reflects both aspects of our nature, in varying degrees. The popularity of sports and online first person shooter video games reflects the more predatory side. More relaxing and solitary activities like cooking or painting reflect the ape side.
As for the title, the naked ape, the reason why we don't have a full coat of fur is to aid us in hunting; cooling us down by chasing animals. Other predators can make fast dashes after prey, but our bipedal stature and the occupation of our hands makes this difficult. "By losing the heavy coat of hair and by increasing the number of sweat glands all over the body surface, considerable cooling could be achieved- not for minute by minute living, but for the supreme moments of the chase." Our subcutaneous fat and ability to fashion clothes help keep us warm without fur. With the help of neoteny, the retaining of youthful traits into adulthood, all this explains our appearance as the naked ape. Younger chimps have flatter faces, a long slender neck, smaller teeth, absence of heavy brow ridges, non-rotating big toe, and more hair on the head than the rest of the body. Our extended childhood also allows us to develop our powerful brains. A desire to explore and learn new things are also associated with youth, and so we are the young ape as well as the naked ape. Though of course neoteny is selective, as we aren't attracted to infant genitals, infantile emotions, or infantile strength.
The book is full of interesting speculations about behavior, always trying to link us to our animal nature. The message of the book is that we are still operating with an animal mindset no matter how developed we are. Even the most complex behaviors like pacing back and forth and the conduct of war harken back to our more modest origins.
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