The course aims to provide the student with fundamental knowledge for understanding the place of humans in nature in the context of modern evolutionary biology. In this regard at the conclusion of the course the student will be expected to (a) understand morphology, physiology, ethology and cognition of human and non-human primates using a comparative approach, (b) to appreciate the adaptive significance of morphological and behavioral variation in human and non-human primates from an ecological perspective (c) to know the evolution of apes in light of phylogenetic relationships between living and extinct groups of primates, and (d) to understand major trends in hominin evolution through the fossil evidence for the origins of modern humans. The course aims to stimulate the student's critical sense through discussion of scientific articles and to introduce the student to the central themes of anthropocentrism.