Us and Them: Primate Science and the Union of the Rational

Paul M. Pulé, B.Sc Schumacher College The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes. Us and Them: Primate Science and the Union of the Rational Self with the Intuitive Self Cover Picture by James Balog, 1993, p. 13 Submitted in Partial Completion of: Masters In Holistic Science Department of Environmental Studies The University of Plymouth th September 15 , 2003. DEDICATION: For Nunna Jeannie Pulé … who wanted so much for me to be Whole 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Before sitting to write these acknowledgements, I visited with my parents – Mimi and Gerry Pule. It’s been the rare opportunity throughout my adult life when I could simply arrive at their table, eat my fill of home cooking, and ponder the happenings in my life with them lending an ear in person. They have patiently accepted many, many years of - at best - a sporadic phone call to fill the mind’s eye with a vision of a prodigal son. Much of what follows is a reflection of the lesson I learned from these two tireless human beings long before I flew their coop. They bring special meaning to the quality of caring and for that I am eternally grateful. My Grandmother Jeannie Pulé has been a voice for the heart for as long as I can remember. And my dear Uncle Leslie Pulé has been an inspiration, a guide, a friend, and champion of the third way for my entire life. It is through him that I have confronted my own dualistic tendencies and have responded to the indomitable either this or that dilemmas of life with a resounding Yes! The essence of this dissertation is very much a product of his wise counsel. I owe much thanks to my tutor and friend Dr. Stephan Harding, Resident Ecologist at Schumacher College. When I thought I had lost my direction, it was he who threw a rope that led me across the waves to a stimulating year in a sleepy little nook nestled between the hedgerows of Devon in South West England. Most of this work was galvanised on the grounds of Schumacher College. Every word carries with it the blessings of many hours spent with a kind-hearted man whose love for Gaia and whose youthful energy are irrepressibly infectious. Dr. Hayley Randle from the University of Plymouth has been a rock of encouragement from the time we first met. Her enthusiasm and hopefulness charged my weary writing bones. Her eyes combed the pages that follow with prompt thoroughness. Her gentle spirit left much latitude for me to flourish through the process of researching and writing on my own terms. And as much as I have heeded her many thoughtful suggestions I hold myself entirely responsible for any stumbles that follow. She has been the very best Dissertation supervisor I could have hoped for, bringing to our conversations her ethological experience and her curiosity for the philosophical leanings that peeped through a Primate Science. Drs. Michael Booth and Patsy Hallen of ISTP at Murdoch University have been steadfast aides over the past two years. They have ‘hung in there’ through my many whims and transcontinental wanderings all the while believing in my abilities and choices as a post-graduate student with eternal optimism. They have held out the notion of life’s limitless possibilities manifest in the process of sculpting one’s self as a scholar. They have also intently observed the evolution of my thinking and have pointed me in the direction of useful resources some of which have become central in this work. I am pleased that we will have many more opportunities to banter in the coming years. Throughout my year at Schumacher College, Ly Vaillancourt became so much more than a colleague. She has been my yoga bubby shaking me awake to the stillness of dawn, an ear when my mind wandered and my heart ached, a sister when I needed the comfort of family away from home and a dedicated friend. From her I owe the lesson of ‘not forcing’ that will stay with me for all the days of my life. James Murray-White has been the English brother I never had, helping me to stay on task and accosting the procrastinator in me with poignant poetry, fine food, a warm bed, wheels to get about, and a general helping hand. Annie Galloway showed me the vital importance of noticing the Earth with a gentle heart and helped me practice letting go of cherished outcomes. Tani Garde gave me cause to confront the walls of my rationality through the skip in her step and her joyous spirit that is intuition embodied. And Zane Loza graced me with the gift of quieting my busy mind by allowing me to love deeply and fully from the heart. In their own ways, all three of these women awakened the hopeful romantic within me that put my persistent pragmatist in check. I offer my sincere thanks to Kathy Doherty (Senior Chimpanzee Keeper) and David Field (Curator) of the Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Wildlife Park. My observations of the Whipsnade chimpanzee colony enabled me to apply ethology in this study as an essential conclusion to my theorising. These observations have also become a new beginning for my future work in primatology wedded with Environmental Philosophy. Finally, I extend my deepest gratitude to Primrose, Nikki, Wally, Bonnie-Lewise, Zephyr, Grant, Phil, and Elvis for tolerating my curious gazes at their chimpanzee life from the people side of the fence. Along with the occasional and very well aimed clump of faeces or rock, these chimps showed me that there is so much more to them than the human eye first sees. P. M. P. 8th September 2003 ISTP, Murdoch University Perth, Western Australia 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS: PREFACE: ZANE LOZA ..........................................................6 INTRODUCTION: A CONDUIT FOR WHOLE LIVING ..................10 0.1: Are We This, or That? Yes! .............................................. 11 0.2: A Masculinized Hubris ....................................................... 15 0.3: Mixing Drinks Gives One A Headache .............................. 20 04: Our Primateness................................................................. 23 0.5: This Work........................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 1: STEPPING FORWARD INTO THE PAST................28 1.1: The Not So Good News For Modern Times....................... 29 1.2: Taxonomy of the Miind ...................................................... 35 1.3: The Chosen Species? ....................................................... 39 1.4: Teasing Out the Details ..................................................... 42 1.5: How Ape Are Humans? How Human are Apes? ............... 46 1.6: A Naturalistic Fallacy Come True ...................................... 49 CHAPTER 2: AN APE IS AN APE IS A … ................................54 2.1: Gnashing Teeth and Warm Smiles.................................... 55 2.2: The 98% Human................................................................ 62 2.3: A Pan Full of Pan troglodytes ............................................ 65 2.4: A Pan Full of Pan paniscus................................................ 71 2.5: Culture This! ...................................................................... 74 CHAPTER 3: A WHOLE SUM OF THE PARTS .........................79 3.1: Seriously Compromised Astigmatism ................................ 80 3.2: Politics of the Mind............................................................. 86 4 CHAPTER 4: PRIMATE SCIENCE AS PRIMAL SCIENCE............93 4.1: Science of the Esoteric ...................................................... 94 4.2: The Synergistic Whole....................................................... 98 4.3: A Third Way ..................................................................... 105 4.4: A Very Good Eye ............................................................. 108 CHAPTER 5: THE KIND OF KINDNESS OF APE-KIND ............114 5.1 A Science of Caring ......................................................... 115 5.2: The Altricial Self............................................................... 119 5.3: Nature of the Human Primate .......................................... 124 5.4: The Best Kind of Empathy ............................................... 126 CONCLUSION: FINISHING UP IN THREE DIMENSIONS ...........129 BIBLIOGRAPHY: ................................................................135 APPENDIX 1: .....................................................................147 APPENDIX 2: .....................................................................148 APPENDIX 3: .....................................................................149 APPENDIX 4: .....................................................................150 5 PREFACE: ZANE LOZA For thus all things must begin, with an act of love. Donna Haraway 1989, quoting Marias, p. 1 6 On Thursday, June 12th, 2003, at 1:45pm, I was tapped on the shoulder and my life changed forever. I was standing beneath the vaulted ceiling of the dining hall at Schumacher College – an international centre for Ecological Studies– where I have been working towards a Masters in Holistic Science. The filtered light of a Devon summer beamed in through the skylight and gave cause for the row of ferns that line the walls above me to smile. It is not often that their fronds are bathed in the direct warmness of such rays – the skylight is small and the Devon sun a mere tease of brightness for much of the year; they had serious reason to celebrate. A breeze silently seeped in through the building’s opened doors and windows, bringing with it the smell of yawning wheat fields. There, in the dining hall, the outdoors blended with the lingering aroma of

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