Becoming Human

The closure of Tomasello's forty-year research programme. Becoming Human traces how human uniqueness -- shared intentionality, normativity, cumulative culture -- emerges ontogenetically in children through a sequence of increasingly complex forms of cooperation: joint intentionality with a partner, then collective intentionality with a group, then the full moral and institutional framework of human societies. The account is developmental rather than purely evolutionary, tracking what happens in the first six years of life. It is the most complete statement of Tomasello's vision: we become human not through individual cognitive breakthroughs but through cooperative engagements that restructure how we think, communicate, and hold each other accountable.