Le complexe des trois singes. Sur un certain journalisme primatologique
When comparing the scientific work of primatologists with its interpretation in texts addressed to wider audiences, one realizes that “primatological journalism” can be excessive. While it is thoroughly legitimate and necessary to naturalize humans in the light of the increasing number of similariti...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Société Francophone de Primatologie
2012-12-01
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| Series: | Revue de Primatologie |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/primatologie/1138 |
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| Summary: | When comparing the scientific work of primatologists with its interpretation in texts addressed to wider audiences, one realizes that “primatological journalism” can be excessive. While it is thoroughly legitimate and necessary to naturalize humans in the light of the increasing number of similarities discovered every day by primatology between human and non-human primate behaviors, it is far less relevant to radicalize this naturalism and turn it into a reductive understanding overlooking anything specific to human behaviors. The latter attitude is what I call the “three monkeys’ complex.”This project will analyse a series of “scoops” supposed to teach us that “language,” “self-consciousness,” or “tools” are no longer exclusively human. It will expose the logic of this discourse, pointing out the various excesses underlying its surface. Ultimately, the aim of this study will be to give, as a possible answer, a non-metaphysical, acceptable version of human specificity within what John MacDowell calls “second nature naturalism.” |
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| ISSN: | 2077-3757 |