Tomasello is a hard read. What I took from his views is that he makes the assertion that we as human have a unique and distinct capacity for cultural learning which is based on his narrowly defined view of culture. I hear him arguing that only we as humans have specific cultural attributes. I agree that there are aspects of learning that are unique to us as humans - for example, the ability to learn and acquire language, memorize data, draw connections, and be empathetic. We do differ from non humans in those respects. But Tomasello says non humans do not possess these abilities to learn because they do not experience any social processes of culture as they develop, like humans do. He asserts that we as humans have the ability to pass our knowledge on to future generations, but non humans do not. He says that our imitative learning process has resulted in our cultural evolution. There is truth in his statements and I agree with some of his views, but I also believe that there are many facets and meanings of culture. I think a lot of people would challenge some of Tomasello's views. If he broadened his definition of what constitutes culture, a few parts of his arguments may not be as strong. I would argue that non humans also experience forms of cultural learning and that we are not as different as Tomasello says we are. Even a domesticated dog adjusts to the 'culture' of the home he lives in. Savage-Rumbaugh and Fields (2000) wrote a peer review of Tomasello's book. http://search.proquest.com/docview/198153329?accountid=12617 In it, they challenged statements made by Tomasello, such as: 'only human beings engage in cultural learning' and 'socialization of attention is unique to human culture'. I also challenge such statements. The authors state that there has been research done and evidence to show otherwise. Also, Tomasello says that because the non humans have not been proven to exhibit certain behaviors in the wild, that they do not possess the ability to be intentional about their learning. I feel that the ability to learn certain behaviors is inherent in some non humans, whether or not that learning occurred in their natural habitat. For example: Tomasello says that nonhuman primates do not try to bring others to locations so that they can observe things there. But a police canine on a drug unit does this. The skill may not have been learned in the wild, but the cultural ability to learn it is still apparent. Tomasello says nonhuman primates do not actively offer objects to other individuals by holding them out. But a dog will hold out its dish when it wants to eat, or hold out a ball when it wants you to play catch. Other animals such as crows, dolphins and chimps have exhibited very strong characteristics that Tomasello says they do not possess. I am trying to wrap my head around some of the notions that animals are so vastly different from us in these ways. In the meantime, although I agree that there are many aspects of our learning as humans that differ from the social learning capacities of non humans, there are aspects of both that I feel remain quite similar.
To add to this blog post, I must explain that the above post was created after reading the first hundred pages of Tomasello, and before the class' discussion on it. During class, I was fascinated by the level of discussion and debate about Tomasello's views. For instance, a few students mentioned that Tomasello did not include certain animals in his book that we know surpass others in terms of their abilities. We were informed that Tomasello has done subsequent research and does include a more in depth perspective of the abilities of some non human primates in his other work. The class discussion has added tremendously to my learning curve in understanding Tomasello's views. The interest has been peaked to go out and research some of his subsequent findings, which is all a valuable part of our learning. I find Tomasello's work stretches our knowledge and belief about non human primates and provides interesting but debatable positions on the issue of human learning vs non human learning. I am interested to discover where our class discussions in the future will take us. WLT
Good job, Wanda. Your argument is well explained and the evidence that you gave is very strong. From my perspective I think that there is difference in our definitions of these concepts and that's what really got us in the debate or argument. When you said “But a police canine on a drug unit does this.”, I would like to say that the dog that police use to search for the drug has been trained. Some animals have the enormous capacities. For example, I heard that sheep have the ability to remember faces and some faces can cause a psychological reaction. They are able to distinguish between joy and anger and prefer fun. Even though, the sheep are not considered to be very intelligent animals. At the end of my comment, the humans are still the most creative species in the world.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting points you brought up Wanda. I also felt that Tomasello did not give enough credit to the learning abilities of nonhuman primates. As a mother to a wonderful 4 year old boxer, I can account for many learning abilities that go against Tomasello's claims;) When my dog wants to play he will bring his toy to me (or someone else) and keep putting it on my lap until I get the hint. When he wants me to throw it he will drop it in my lap. But when he wants to play tug of war he will put it in my lap but maintain a grip to one end of it. Champ (my dog's name) will also bring me to a location to observe something, and he has an intentional plan for the thing he wants me to observe. If I don't bring his ball to the park for his walk, then he will find a stick to play with. If I don't notice his wonderful discovery then he will bark at it in an attempt to get me to observe his find. If I don't engage then he will run back to me and then proceed in front of me constantly stopping and looking back to make sure I am following him. Then he will lead me to his stick and look at me and then look at the stick and bark. He will repeat this sequence until I throw the stick for him to fetch. I feel that animals such as dogs are more capable then we give them credit for. They may not display all the actions/ behaviours we want them to. But we are also neglecting to see that they may not care to do these things rather than being incapable of it.
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