Apes and Sushi Masters – A Primate Scientist’s Cultural Reflections

Author: (American) Will by Ling Huai, Jiang Jun translated
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2005-01-01
Features: "Frans de Waal is one of today's greatest ethologists and, coincidentally, a master storyteller. In this book, de Waal explores the similarities between humans and other animals as a philosopher. In the process, he takes us on a broad and enlightening journey through different cultures, races, and various behaviorists. Reading this book is truly a pleasure." This book challenges the most fundamental assumptions about "who we are" and "what sets us apart from other animals." The outstanding primatologist Frans de Waal leads us to consider the possibility of chimpanzees having their own culture through delightful autobiographical anecdotes, rigorous investigations, and reflections. We believe that only humans possess rich culture and can finely and diversely distinguish our behavior from that of animals. But what if the behavior of chimpanzees in response to their environment is learned through observing their elders (culture), rather than being derived from pure genetic instincts (nature)? This idea shakes the belief that has long been held for centuries about why humans are special. It also questions the recent tendency to view other animals as slaves of genetic programs. If animals learn from each other as humans do, they would be closer to humans. De Waal corrects the assumption that humans are the only intelligent life capable of completing the leap from nature to culture. The title of this book comes from an analogy he made: comparing the transmission of behavior in chimpanzee societies to an apprentice carefully observing a sushi master at work. De Waal explores the details of social transmission and, more broadly, how our own culture influences our perception of other animals, and how our understanding of animals affects our self-reflection. Here, he examines the influence of European ethology and Japanese primatology on the study of animal behavior. The issue of animal culture is deeply cultural, and it is no coincidence that the drive to advance the study of animal culture comes from the East, where there is rarely a tendency to exclude humans from nature. Chimpanzees stand before us like a mirror, and in it, they are not clumsy imitators of humans but members of our extended family, possessing their own wisdom and dignity. Since Carl Linnaeus bravely grouped us with monkeys and chimpanzees in 1975, we have recognized that we are not unique. Biologically, we have never been alone, and in this book, the author presents an equally startling claim—culturally, humans are not unique either.