Significant Others: The ape-human continuum and the quest for human nature by Craig Stanford, Perseus, 拢19.99, ISBN 0465081711
A COUPLE of years ago, a team composed of respected molecular biologists and primate taxonomists decided that the classification of the great apes needed revision. Not only should the Pongidae (them) and Hominidae (us) be combined, but they saw no reason to keep humans and chimps apart.
Like lions and tigers, we were very closely related and belonged in the same genus, they said. I鈥檒l bet you didn鈥檛 see a single headline along the lines of: 鈥淗uman ego downsized鈥� and 鈥淗umans: not so special after all鈥�. Yet the discovery of even a fragment of fossil bone of yet another member of our lineage is greeted with great fanfare and extensive media coverage.
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This fascinating and insightful book explores the basis for our monumental hubris. A field primatologist, Craig Stanford provides masterful summaries of ape biology and sociology, showing how similar we all are.
Exploring humanity鈥檚 long and uneasy relationship with apes, Stanford shows how Western science came to deal with this knowledge as it developed. A smooth entwining of the histories of philosophy and of science shows the key role played by Cartesian dualism in our current view of ourselves and our relation to nature. The modern failings of this historical attitude become clear when we are faced with close biological relatives.
Stanford has given us a thought-provoking book that illustrates the profundity of Douglas Adams鈥檚 aphorism, 鈥淎ssumptions are things you don鈥檛 know you鈥檙e making鈥�.