Jeremy Griffith

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Biologist Jeremy Griffith at the release of FREEDOM at the Royal Geographical Society in London on June 2, 2016

Jeremy Griffith (* 1945 ) is an Australian biologist and author. The public first became aware of him when he was trying to find the Tasmanian tiger . He later became known for his writings on the human condition and theories of human progress. In 1983 he founded the World Transformation Movement to advance his ideas.

Early years of life

Griffith was taught at Tudor House School in New South Wales and Geelong High School in Victoria, Australia .

He first became known through his search for surviving Tasmanian tigers and bag wolves , the last known specimen of which died in captivity in 1936. The search, carried out from 1967 to 1973, included thorough surveys along the west coast of Tasmania , the installation of automatic camera stations, immediate investigations of reported sightings, and finally the formation of the Thylacine Expeditionary Research Team with Bob Brown in 1972, which was completed without any Evidence for the persistence of the species has been found.

Writings on the human condition

Griffith began writing about the human condition in 1975 and published the first of his six books on the subject in 1988. A Species In Denial (2003) became a bestseller in Australia and New Zealand. His writings are known for providing readers with access to the thoughts of many famous philosophers, thinkers, and religious sources.

His biological work on the origins of human nature claims that "people act upset because of a battle between instinct and intellect". The Irish Times summarized this thesis presented in Freedom as "Adam and Eve Without Guilt: Explaining Our Battle Between Instinct and Intellect". Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Griffith offers a treatise on the true nature of mankind and on overcoming fears for the world".

The Templeton Prize winner and biologist Charles Birch , the New Zealand zoologist John Edward Morton , former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association Harry Prosen and the Australian mountaineer and Everest conqueror Tim Macartney-Snape are long-time supporters of Griffiths ideas. Morton publicly defended Griffith when he and his ideas were attacked in the mid-1990s. Griffith's ideas have been criticized on the basis of supposed problems with the empirical correctness of his anthropological writings, an objection that highlights his reliance on the writings of African writer Laurens van der Post and the work of anthropologist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas .

Griffith has argued in his writings that the driving force in human evolution was the increasing protection of offspring, a process he calls "love indoctrination". He argues that this process created human moral sense. Evidence for this view is the decreased sexual dimorphism in the early stages of human evolution, particularly the loss of the morphology of aggressive canines seen in other extant primates. The theory postulates an intensification of maternal care and an associated increasing pro-social behavior of the offspring as the distinguishing feature of the human lineage. His theory takes up that of Adrienne Zihlman, who postulated that changes in patterns of socialization among adolescents may have been important in the early stages of human evolution.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ronald Conway: Baggage check. In: The Weekend Australian. News Corp, Jul 19, 2003, p. B10.
  2. ^ A b Gary Clark: Biologist Jeremy Griffith examines where the human race is headed. In: The Sydney Morning Herald . October 6, 2014, accessed May 30, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b Helen Bissland: Delving into the human mindset of denial. In: The Southland Times . November 1, 2003, p. 35.
  4. ^ Luck Geoffrey: The Hubris of Four Corners. In: Quadrant. LVI, No. 11, November 2012, accessed May 30, 2019.
  5. ↑ Jeremy Griffith: A Species in Denial. 2003.
  6. ↑ a b c Andy Park: Tasmanian Tiger - Extinct of merely elusive ?. In: Australian Geographic. 1, No. 3, July 1986, pp. 66-83.
  7. ^ A b Jeremy Griffith: The Search for the Tasmanian Tiger. In: Natural History. No. 81, December 1972, pp. 70-77.
  8. ^ Robert Paddle: The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The History and Extinction of the Thylacine. 2000, p. 197.
  9. ↑ a b Jeremy Griffith: Free: The End of the Human Condition. 1988.
  10. ↑ Elvira Sprogis: books bestseller. In: The Newcastle Herald. June 21, 2003, p. 15.
  11. ↑ a b Peter Fray: 7 Days: Religion. In: The Sydney Morning Herald . October 10, 2011.
  12. ^ Adam & Eve without the guilt: explaining our battle between instinct and intellect. In: The Irish Times. May 30, 2016, accessed May 30, 2019.
  13. ↑ Freedom: The End of The Human Condition. In: Kirkus Reviews. May 17, 2016, accessed October 31, 2016.
  14. ↑ Adrienne Zihlman: Women and Evoluition, Part II: Subsistence and Social Organization among early hominids. In: Signs 4, No. 1, Women, Science, and Society. Herbst, 1978, pp. 4-20.
personal data
SURNAME Griffith, Jeremy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian biologist and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1945