The Rule of the Thumb

By Sadhika on

Homo habilis evolved opposable thumbs somewhere between 2.1 and 1.5 million years ago. The evolution of this feature, I believe, was responsible not only for an increased range of motor movements (freeing up our forelimbs from walking requirements, giving fresh use to forelimb-based skills), but also responsible, at least in part, for the development of our problem-solving ability, goal-directed behaviour, pattern recognition, and abstract and symbolic thought. A number of professions, today, require the use of our hands.


When we stretch out our hand to grasp or pick up an object, let’s say, a coffee mug, we align the shape of our hand into a hollow shape that would roughly match the dimensions of the coffee mug itself. By doing so, we are integrating the objects in our environment with our state of existence, and using them not only to navigate the world around us but also to manipulate it - a rather Piagetian perspective though.


Gripping also symbolises possession. The experience of possessing something is identity-building in human beings. When we possess something, we value it because we are adding it to who we are. We are augmenting the contours of our identity. This is why primates would fiercely protect that which they believe to possess. This can be in the form of our offspring, our food supply, our materialistic possessions, and even our opinions. By possessing an object, idea or person, we enhance our identities and become bigger and more invincible. It is incredibly meaningful to us in the modern world to be able to own things: a house, a car, a pet, for there is some comfort in knowing that we can expand the limits of our existence by owning things that might make our navigation in this world more comfortable. To put this in perspective, the evolution of the capitalist economy would not have happened without the conception of the idea of possession.


Furthermore, the evolution of the opposable thumb facilitated, in large part, the recording of linguistic thought. We picked up tools to erect buildings, we picked up tools to practise agriculture, we picked up tools to defend ourselves against predators, we picked up tools to document our observations through cave paintings and hieroglyphs. We can pick up a pen and write because of our opposable thumbs. It provided thrust to the development of language as we know it to be, through the conception of abstract thought and communication of ideas.


As the writer of this piece, I will make use of my prerogative to go slightly off tangent. Remember the story of Eklavya from the Mahabharata? For those of you unfamiliar with Hindu mythology, here is a gist: On witnessing the spectacular archery skills of Eklavya, the prince of a jungle tribe, Dronacharya asks him to cut off his thumb as gurudakshina (fees), after becoming aware of the fact that Eklavya learned archery by secretly observing the lessons he gave to the Pandava brothers, which was not permitted. He knew that Eklavya would find it difficult to use a bow and arrow without his thumb. Did the Mahabharata shrewdly acknowledge the importance of the opposable thumb?


Explore more:

1. The Moral Judgement of the Child - Jean Piaget

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