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  • 8/3/2019 Human Uniqueness and Theoretical Content

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    International Journ al o f Primatology, F ol. 11, No . 3, 1990

    H um a n U ni que ne s s a nd T he o r e t i c a l C o nt e ntin P a l e o a nt hr o po l o g yM a t t C a r t m i lUReceived July 6, 1988

    O n e o f t h e t h in g s t h a t d i s ti n g u i sh e s s ci en c e f r o m n o n s c i e n t i fi c d i s c o u r s e ist h e i n c o r p o r a t i o n o f i t s h y p o th e s e s i n to t h e o re t ic a l st r u ctu r es . L i k e p a r a -p s y c h o lo g y , t h e s t u d y o f h u m a n e v o lu ti o n l a c ks th e o r et ic a l c o n t e n t a n d c o n -nec t ions . Th is lack i s due , in par t , to the co l lapse o f the c las s ica l pr im ato -log ica l s yn thes i s in the 1970s. I t i s due in larger me asure to a pe r s i s ten ta n t h r o p o lo g i c a l f o c u s o n h u m a n u n i q u e n es s as t h e p h e n o m e n o n t o b e e x-p la in e d . S u c h s u p p o s e d l y u n iq u e h u m a n f e a tu r e s a s l a rg e b r a in s , l a n g u ag e ,c o n c e p tu a l t h in k in g , a n d u p r ig h t b ip e d a l i sm a r e u n iq u e l y h u m a n b y d e f in i -t io n r a th e r th a n a s a m a t t e r o f e m p i r ic a l f a c t . M u c h s c ie n t if i c e f f o r t a n d i n-genu i ty has gone in to rede f in ing such charac te r i s t i c s whenever d i scover ie sa b o u t o th e r a n im a l s h a v e p o s e d a th r e a t t o h u m a n u n iq u e n es s . B u t s i n ce b yd e f i n i ti o n q u a l i t a ti v e ly u n iq u e p h e n o m e n a d o n o t c o n fo r m to o v e r a rc h in glaws tha t app ly to s imi lar case s, they m us t r em ain theore tica lly inexp l icab le .Paleo anth ropo logy sh ou M a im at increasing i ts theore tical conten t by reduc ingth e l is t o f q u a l i ta t iv e h u m a n u n iq u e n e s s e s - a n d e l im in a t i n g it a l t o g e th e r i fposs ib le .K E Y W O R D S : demarcat ion of science; human origins; allometry; Clever Hans; ape language.

    If man wants to set up a contest in resembling himself and award himself the prize,no one will quarrel with him.M ary Midgley (1978, p. 164)

    1Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Durham, North Caro-lina 27710.173

    0164-0291/90/0600-0173506.00/0 9 1 9 9 0 P l e n u m P u b l i s h i n g C o r p o r a t io n

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    174 Cartmill

    I N T R O D U C T I O N

    W h a t , i f a n y t h i n g , d i s ti n g u i s h e s s c ie n c e f r o m o t h e r s o r ts o f i n te l l ec t u -a l a c ti v it y ? O n e o f t h e b e s t - k n o w n d e f i n it i o n s o f t h e b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n s c ie n cea n d n o n s c i e n c e is K a r l P o p p e r ' s c r i t e r i o n o f f a l s i b il i ty , w h i c h a s s er ts t h a t" s t a t e m e n t s o r s y s t e m s o f s t a t e m e n t s , i n o r d e r t o b e r a n k e d a s s c ie n t if i c, m u s tb e c a p a b l e o f c o n f l i c ti n g w i t h p o s si b le , o r c o n c e i v a b l e o b s e r v a t i o n s " ( P o p -p e r , 1 9 6 8 , p . 3 9 ) . Y e t a l t h o u g h f a l s i f i a b i l i t y i s s u r e l y a n e c e s s a r y q u a l i f i c a -t i o n o f s c i e n t i f i c s t a t e m e n t s , i t i s n o t s u f f i c i e n t . I t d o e s n o t d i s t i n g u i s hs c i e n ti f ic s t a t e m e n t s f r o m o t h e r s o r t s o f s t a te m e n t s , b e c a u s e n o t a l l e x p e c t a -t i o n s w i t h t e s t a b l e c o n s e q u e n c e s a r e s c i e n t i fi c h y p o t h e s e s . I f t h e y w e r e , ev -e r y d o g t h a t f a i le d t o f i n d w a t e r i n h is w a t e r d i s h w o u l d q u a l i f y a s a s ci e nt is t .S c ie n ce , as m a n y p h i l o s o p h e r s ( i n cl u d in g P o p p e r ) h a v e p o i n t e d o u t , m u s t d e a li n u n i v e r s a l, l a w - li k e s t a t e m e n t s t h a t a p p l y t o g e n e r a l c la s se s o f e v e n t s .

    H o w e v e r , e v e n l a w - li k e g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s w i t h t e s t a b l e i m p l i c a t i o n s m a yl a c k s c ie n t i fi c s t a n d i n g . C o n s i d e r t h e f o l l o w i n g p r o p o s i t i o n : " A f t e r 1 8 20A . D . , a ll U . S . p r e s i d e n t s e l e c t e d in y e a r s e n d i n g i n z e r o w i l l d i e in o f f i c e . "T h i s i s a f a l s i f i a b l e h y p o t h e s i s w i t h a l o w apriori p r o b a b i l i t y . F o r 1 4 0 y e a r s ,i t w a s h i g h l y c o r r o b o r a t e d , p a s s i n g s e v e n s t r i n g e n t t e s ts ( H a r r i s o n , L i n c o l n ,G a r f i e l d , M c K i n l e y , H a r d i n g , R o o s e v e l t , K e n n e d y ) w i th f l y in g c o l o r s; b u ti n J a n u a r y , 1 98 9, it w a s d ec is i ve l y r e f u t e d w h e n R o n a l d R e a g a n e s c a p e d f r o mt h e P r e s i d e n c y w i t h h is l i f e. I f f a l s i fi a b i l it y w e r e a ll th a t c o u n t s i n s c i en c e ,t h is L a w o f P r e s i d e n t i a l A n n i h i l a t i o n s h o u l d h a v e b e e n o f g r ea t s c ie n t if ici n t e r e s t . I n f a c t , t h e l a w h a s n o s c i e n t i f ic i n t e r e s t w h a t e v e r .

    W h y n o t ? S o m e p h i lo s o p h e r s o f s ci en c e, in c l u d in g P o p p e r (1 9 57 ), w o u l ds a y t h a t t h i s " l a w " h a s n o s c i e n t i fi c s t a n d i n g b e c a u s e i t c o n t a i n s p r o p e r n o u n s :i t is n o t a g e n u i n e l y u n i v e rs a l g e n e r a l i z a t i o n - w h a t H u l l ( 19 8 3 ) c a ll s a " p r o c e s st h e o r y " - b u t is li m i te d t o a s p e c i fi c p l ac e a n d t i m e a n d p o l it ic a l s y s te m ; t h e re -f o r e , i t c a n n o t c o u n t a s a s c i e n ti f ic l a w . O t h e r s ( V a n V a l e n , 1 9 88 ) s e e n od i f f i c u l t y in a c c e p t i n g l a w s w i t h s p e c i f ic s p a t i o t e m p o r a l r e s t r i c ti o n s . B u tw h e t h e r o r n o t i ts p r o p e r n o u n s c o u n t a g a in s t it , t h e L a w o f P r e s i d e n t ia lA n n i h i l a ti o n h as a m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l s h o r t c o m i n g - it lacks a theoret ical con-text. I t i s n o t e m b e d d e d i n a n y l a r g e r , m o r e i n c l u s i v e s t r u c t u r e o f e x p e c t a -t i o n s . I t h a s n o l o g i c a l c o n n e c t i o n s w i t h a n y I a r g e r I aw s o f u n i v e r s a l s c o p e .T h e r e f o r e , i ts f a l s i f i c a t io n h a s n o w i d e r im p l i c a t io n s n o r a n y s c i e n t if ic i m -p o r t a n c e . I t c a n b e s e e n o n l y as a h i s to r i ca l co i n c i d e n c e . A n d c o i n c i d e n c e s -u n i q u e c o n s te l la t io n s o f e v en ts th a t c o n f o r m t o n o m o r e g e n e ra l p a t t e r n -a r e n o t s c i e n t i f i c a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g .

    I f a s s e r t i o n s t h a t l a c k a t h e o r e t i c a l c o n t e x t a r e n o t s c i e n t if i c a ll y i n t e re s t -i n g , t h e n a n a t h e o r e t i c a l s ci en c e m u s t b e a c o n t r a d i c t i o n i n te r m s . T h e r e a r e ,o f c o u r s e , s c i e n ti f ic f ie l d s t h a t l a c k d i s t i n c t iv e t h e o r e t i c a l e n t i ti e s o f t h e i r o w nb e c a u s e t h e y a r e s u b d i s c i p l in e s o f a la r g e r s c i e n ti f ic d o m a i n w i t h w h i c h t h e y

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    Hum an Un iqueness in Paleoanthropology 175

    s h a r e a c o m m o n b o d y o f t h e o r y . P r i m a t o l o g y is su c h a f i e ld o f s tu d y ; th eb i o l o g y o f p r i m a t e s i n v o l v es n o t h e o r e t i c a l c o n c e p t s o r c o n c e r n s t h a t a r e n o tt h e c o m m o n p r o p e r t y o f b i o l o g i c a l s c i e n c e a s a w h o l e . B u t t h e r e a r e o t h e rf ie ld s o f s t u d y t h a t s e e m to b e a t h e o r e t ic a l in a m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l w a y a n dw h o s e s c i e n ti fi c st a t u s i s a c c o r d i n g l y o p e n t o q u e s t i o n .

    P a r a p s y c h o l o g y is o n e e x a m p l e . I t is a th e o r e t i c a l b y i ts v e r y n a t u r e ,b e c a u se w h a t m a k e s a p h e n o m e n o n p a r a p s y c h o l o g i c a l is th a t i t h a s n o e x-p l a n a t i o n , n o t e v e n a h y p o t h e t ic a l ex p l a n a ti o n . A p a r a p s y c h o l o g y t h a t o f f e r e dt e s ta b l e e x p l a n a t i o n s a r t i c u l a t i n g w i t h o t h e r d o m a i n s o f s c i e n ti f ic t h e o r yw o u l d n o l o n g e r b e p a r a p s y c h o l o g y , b u t s o m e t h i n g e ls e. ( I f t h e r e w e r e r e a-s o n t o t h i n k t h a t , s a y , te l e p a t h y is a r e a l p h e n o m e n o n p r o d u c e d b y a u n i q u es o r t o f r a d i a t i o n f r o m t h e b r a i n , t h e n s t u d e n ts o f t e le p a t h y w o u l d b e p h y si -c i s t s a n d n e u r o p h y s i o l o g i s t s , n o t p a r a p s y c h o l o g i s t s . ) T h e p h e n o m e n a o fp a r a p s y c h o l o g y q u a l i f y a s s u c h p r e c is e ly b e c a u s e o f t h e i r m y s t e r i o u s a n d o c -c u l t s ta t u s . A l t h o u g h p a r a p s y c h o l o g i s t s in s i st t h a t t h e c o n s t e l la t i o n s o f e v e n t st h e y s t u d y a r e n e i t h e r e x p l ic a b le n o r m e r e l y c o in c i d e n t a l, t h e y h a v e n o t b e e na b l e to s a y e x a c t l y w h a t e ls e t h e y m i g h t b e. I f p a r a p s y c h o l o g y h a d e l a b o r a t -e d a b o d y o f t h e o r y - e v e n a n i d i os y n c ra t i c t h e o r y o f its o w n , i n c o m m e n -s u r a te w i t h t h e r e st o f s c i e n c e - t o a t t e m p t to e x p l a in t h o s e p h e n o m e n a , i tm i g h t q u a l i f y a s a s c i e n t if i c d i s c i p li n e . S i n c e i t h a s d o n e n o t h i n g o f th e s o r t ,i t i s h a r d t o s e e h o w i t c a n q u a l i f y . I t r e m a i n s a c o l l e c t i o n o f g h o s t s t o r i e s .A s p r e s e n tl y c o n s ti tu t e d , p a l e o a n t h r o p o l o g y , t h e s t u d y o f h u m a n e v o-l u t i o n , a l s o l ac k s a b o d y o f d i s t in c t i v e t h e o r y . T h i s m i g h t b e b e c a u s e i t h a sl o s t a n e a r l ie r th e o r e t i c a l s y s te m a n d f o u n d n o r e p l a c e m e n t , o r b e c a u s e i ti s ( l i k e p r i m a t o l o g y ) a s u b d i s c i p l i n e o f s o m e l a r g e r s c i e n t i f i c d o m a i n a n ds h a r e s i n t h a t d o m a i n ' s t h e o r y , o r b e c a u s e i t i s a w i l l f u l l y a t h e o r e t i c a l c a b i-n e t o f m i r ac l e s li k e p a r a p s y c h o l o g y . A l l th r e e o f th e s e d e s c r i p t io n s h o l d t r u et o s o m e e x t e n t . T o t h e e x t e n t t h a t t h e l a s t d e s c r i p t i o n h o l d s t r u e , t h e s c i e n ti f -i c s t a n d i n g o f p a l e o a n t h r o p o l o g y d e s e r v e s t o b e c a l l e d i n t o q u e s t i o n .

    T H E R I S E A N D F A L L O FP A L E O A N T H R O P O L O G I C A L T H E O R Y

    A t o n e t im e , t h e r e w a s a b o d y o f p a l e o a n t h r o p o l o g i c a l t h e o r y . I t s hi s-t o r y b e g in s w i t h C h a r l e s D a r w i n . T h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t i te m o n t h e e a rl y D a r -w i n i a n a g e n d a w a s n o t to e l a b o r a t e w h a t w e w o u l d n o w d e sc r ib e a s a th e o r yo f h u m a n e v o l u t io n ( i. e. , a p a r t ic u l a r h i st o ri c a l e x p l a n a t i o n o f h u m a n o ri -g i n s ) , b u t a l m o s t t h e o p p o s i t e - t o s h o w t h a t h u m a n t r a i t s r e q u i r e d n o e x -t r a o r d i n a r y e x p l a n a t i o n b u t w e r e p r e d i c t a b le a n d n a t u r a l r e s u lt s o f t h e g e n e r a le v o l u t i o n a r y p ro c e s s ( C a r t m i l l et al., 1986; Bo wle r , 1986) . Cr i t i cs of the Origino f Species h a d a r g u e d t h a t n a t u r a l s e le c ti o n c o u l d n o t a c c o u n t f o r s o m e o f

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    t h e p e c u l i a r i ti e s o f Homo: o u r i n t el l ec t u a l c a p a c it ie s w e r e t o o v a s t, o u r m o r a lf a c u lt ie s t o o d i s i n te r e s te d , o u r n a t u r a l w e a p o n s t o o p u n y t o h a v e b e e n g e n e r -a t e d b y s u r v i v al o f t h e f i t te s t v a r i a n t s a m o n g a p e - l i k e a n c e s t o r s . D a r w i n ( 1 8 7 1)a n d h i s e a r l y f o l l o w e r s c o u n t e r e d t h e s e a r g u m e n t s b y a s s e rt i n g t h a t m o s t d i s-t i n ct i v el y h u m a n t ra i ts c o n t r i b u t e i n o n e w a y o r a n o t h e r t o m a n ' s d o m i n i o no v e r t h e l o w e r a n i m a l s , a n d a r e c o r r e s p o n d i n g l y s e le c ti v el y a d v a n t a g e o u s .H u m a n p e c u li a ri ti e s ar e , t h e r e f o r e , l a rg e l y s e l f- e x p l a n a t o ry . T h e m o r a l a n di n t el le c t u al g a p b e t w e e n h u m a n b e in g s a n d t h e h i g h e r m a m m a l s is o n l y am a t t e r o f d e g r e e , a n d i s a t l e a st p a r t l y c lo s e d b y t h e s a v a g e ra c e s . " T h e d i f f e r -e n c e b e t w e e n th e r e a s o n o f a G o e t h e , a K a n t , a L a m a r c k , o r a D a r w i n , a n dt h a t o f t h e l o w e st s a v a g e . . , is m u c h g r e a te r t h a n t h e g r a d u a te d d i f fe r e n c eb e t w e e n th e la t t e r a n d t h a t o f t h e m o s t ' r a t i o n a l ' m a m m a l s , " w r o t e H a e c k e l( 18 9 9) . D a r w i n ' s p s y c h o l o g i c a l f o l l o w e r , R o m a n e s , s a id m u c h t h e s a m e t h i n g :

    I think it m ay be safelypromised, that when we come to consider he case of savages,and through them the case of pre-historicm an, we shall find that, in the great inter-Val which lies between such grades of men tal evolution and ou r own , we are broughtfar on the way towards bridging the psychologicaldistance which separates the goril-la from the gen tleman. (Rom anes, 1889, p. 439)D u r i n g t h e e a r l y 2 0 t h c e n t u r y , e v o l u t i o n a r y m o r p h o l o g i s t s l i ke S m i t h

    ( 1 92 4 ), J o n e s ( 1 91 6 ), a n d C l a r k ( 1 9 34 , 1 9 49 ) a r t i c u l a t e d a t r u e t h e o r y o f h u -m a n e v o l u t i o n - a b o d y o f l o g ic a ll y c o n n e c t e d g e n er a li z at io n s a n d e x p la n a -t io n s t h a t p o r t r a y e d h u m a n e v o l u t i o n as la w - li k e, p r e d i c ta b l e , a n d c o n f l u e n tw i t h t h e h i s t o r y o f l i f e i n g e n e r a l . I n t h is " c l a s s ic a l p r i m a t o l o g i c a l s y n t h e s i s "( C a r t m i l l , 1 9 8 2 ) , Homo sapiens w a s s e e n a s t h e n a t u r a l r e s u l t o f p r i m a t ee v o l u t i o n a r y tr e n d s , w h i c h in t u r n w e r e s e en a s t h e n a t u r a l o u t c o m e o fa r b o r e a l i t y i n m a m m a l s ( C a r t m i l l , 1 9 72 ). M o r e p a r t i c u l a r i s ti c s t o r ie s a b o u tt h e o r i g in o f h u m a n p e c u li a ri ti e s, a c c o u n t s t h a t r e s t e d m o r e o n h i s to r i ca lc o n t i n g e n c i e s a n d l es s o n g e n e r a l l aw s a n d v e c t o r s o f p r o g r e s s , w e r e n o t p u tf o r w a r d i n t h e f i r st h a l f o f t h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y b y a n y o f t h e l e a d i n g s t u d e n tso f h u m a n e v o l u t i o n . A f ew m i n o r , p e r i p h e r a l a u t h o r s l i ke C a m p b e l l ( 19 1 3 ,1 9 17 , 1 9 2 1) a n d R e a d ( 1 91 4 , 1 9 20 ) e l a b o r a t e d e a r l y v e r s i o n s o f t h e h u n t i n gm o d e l o f h u m a n o r ig i n s; b u t m a i n s t r e a m s ci en t is ts i g n o r e d t h e i r w r i ti n g s o nt h e s u b j e c t , a n d t h e i r i d e a s w e r e q u i c k l y f o r g o t t e n .

    H o w e v e r , a f t e r W o r l d W a r I I , t h e t h eo r e ti c al u n i t y o f p a l e o a n t h r o p o l -o g y a n d p r i m a t o l o g y b e g a n t o d i s i n te g r a te . F r o m t h e l a te 1 94 0 s, it s ee m e di n c re a s in g l y c l ea r t o a n t h r o p o l o g i s t s t h a t t h e h u m a n c a r e e r h a d b e g u n w i t ha n a d a p t i v e s h i f t, a h i s t o r i c a l d i s c o n t i n u i t y t h a t e x p l a i n e d t h e d i a g n o s t i ch o m i n i d p e c u l i a ri t ie s o f t e e th a n d l im b s s h a r e d b y Homo a n d Australopithe-cus. I t w a s g e n e r a l l y a g r e e d t h a t t h e h e a r t o f th i s d i s c o n t i n u i t y w a s th e a p -p e a r a n c e o f t o o l s a n d w e a p o n s , d e n o t i n g a b r e a c h b e t w e e n t h e o r g a n ic a n dt e c h n ic a l d o m a i n s ; b e t w e e n t h e w o r l d o f n a t u r a l l aw a n d t h e w o r l d o f h i st o -r y ; b e t w e e n n a t u r e a n d c u l t u r e . T h e o l d n a t u r a l - l a w e x p l a n a t i o n s t h a t h a d

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    Hum an Uniqueness in Paleoanthropology 177

    depicted the origin of humanity as self-explanatory and inevitable gave wayto various formulations of the hunting model and other adaptive-shift ex-planations, which saw hominid origins as a contingent historical coincidence.Why did this changeover take place? Certainly, it was due in part toour postwar acceptance of the neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis. Thatsynthesis stressed the importance of adaptation and ecological niches, andso it encouraged the replacement of natural-law explanations by by narra-tive historical explanations that accounted for morphological changes as ef-fects of shifts in adaptive mode.

    But the changeover also reflected a changed scientific perception of theboundary between human beings and animals. The animal-human boundarybecame more sharply defined for anthropology in the 1950s, when physicalanthropology finally purged itself of the belief that some modern humanpopulations help to bridge the gap between gorillas and gentlemen. That ra-cist doctrine had pervaded the literature on human evolution all the way fromDarwin (1871) down to prewar Hooton (1940). It was particularly explicitand influential in the works of Haeckel (1902), whose writings are a majorsource of Nazi racial ideology (Gasman, 1971; Stein, 1986). But assumptionsabout the hierarchical subordination of human races vanished from scien-tific discourse after the collapse of Naziism and the revelations of the deathcamps. It is also probably not a coincidence that those assumptions disap-peared from physical anthropology during the same postwar years that sawthe dismantling of the European colonial empires.

    In this new context, in which all anthropological argument began by af-firming the unity of the family of man, the line separating humanity fromthe beasts became sharper and more symbolically important for anthropolo-gists; and human uniqueness was widely stressed as a presupposition of anthropo-logical discourse- for example, in the influential works of Leslie White. Inphysical anthropology, the increased importance of the animal-human bound-ary was reflected in the enormous attention lavished on the topic of hominidorigins. During the postwar decade, the family Hominidae was expanded toinclude all stages and collaterals of the human lineage from the time of its sepa-ration from the ancestors of the living apes. The supposed evolutionary event thatinitiated this hominid clade took on new symbolic importance, and was widelyequated with the line separating humanity from the beasts (Cartmill e t a l . , 1986).

    However, because human status is a unique status, the sequence ofevolutionary events that produced the earliest creatures with human statusis by definition a qualitatively unique historical occurrence, with no signifi-cant parallels in other evolutionary lineages. And as Hume pointed out in1734, a genuinely singular occurrence cannot be explained with reference tothe laws of nature. A science centered around the animal-human boundarymust, therefore, be a science that lacks theoretical connections.

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    178 Cartmill

    To be sure, Jolly (1970) and others have proposed nonhuman analo-gies for the hypothesized adaptive shift that produced the Hominidae. Butsuch analogies have not been grounded in law-like generalizations; and theyhave usually been imbedded in two-stage models of hominization , which ex-clude early hominids from human status and postulate a second, unparalleledadaptive transition that demarcates the animal-human boundary. In one wayor another, policing and maintaining that boundary has been a tacit objec-tive of most paleoanthropological model-building since the late 1940s. Thetheoretical content o f paleoanthropology has suffered accordingly.

    T H E A N I M A L - H U M A N B O U N D A R YAlthough accepting a qualitative discontinuity between people and

    animals has diminished the theoretical content of paleoanthropological dis-course, it has augmented its moral and cultural significance. The line thatour culture draws between people and beasts is a moral as well as a concep-tual boundary. More precisely, it is th e moral boundary: the borderline divid-ing persons from property, the line that separates responsible agents withrights and duties from more or less neutral stuff that can be made into soapand lampshades.The moral significance that we attribute to that boundary shows upthroughout the scientific literature. It is an especially conspicuous issue inthe ape-language controversy. ("If apes can talk," write Seidenberg and Petitto[1981], " . . . will they demand their civil rights? If language is the only ca-pacity that distinguishes humans from other species, and apes possess thatcapacity, should they not be treated as human?") Moral issues obtrude eveninto the taxonomic literature, when the taxon in question is Hominidae. Intwo recent articles on primate classification, Groves (1986) and Schwartz(1986) argue that the principles of cladistic systematics compel us to put atleast some of the great apes into the family Hominidae. Groves concludesfrom this finding that we should try to give up using apes as experimentalanimals; Schwartz suggests that we should give up cladistic principles instead,in order to avoid "having to refer to experimental animals as hominids."

    Because the animal-human boundary is the boundary of the moraluniverse, the stories that we tell about human origins, even if they are truestories, are myths; and the general point of those stories is explaining -andlegi timating- human control and domination of nature. This is evident fromthe list of human differen tiae that our textbooks recognize and strive to ex-plain (Cartmill e t a L , 1986). That list is a tally of generally admired humancharacteristics that we like to point to as emblems and causes of humansupremacy over the natural o rd er -s uch characteristics as upright posture,

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    Hum an Uniqueness in Paleoanthropology 17910-

    8

    2

    B

    o C

    A

    9 :, 9 " ' " "o

    I I ~ I I I

    0 2 4 6 8 1 0Log body weight (g)

    Fig. 1. Log-logplot of brain weight (mg) on body weight (g) for 139 spe-cies of extant eutherian mammals. Black circle, Loxodonta (Africanelephant); white triangle, Homo; black squares, other anthropoids; whitecircles, cetaceans; simple dots, other mammals (Insectivora, Scandentia,Rodentia, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyia, Carnivora, Pinnipedia, Hyracoidea,Chiroptera, Edentata). Taxa represented by points above line A (humanbrain weight) have absolutely larger brains than human beings. Taxarepresented by points above line B (isometric line, of 1:1 slope, throughhuman datum) have relatively larger brains than human beings (as a per-centage of body weight). Line C is the best-fit line (y = 0.755x + 1.774)calculated by Martin (1981) for a similar data set. Data from Crile andQuiring (1940), Bauchot and Stephan (1966, 1969), and Ridgway andBrownson (1982).

    big brains, language, and technology. These human peculiarities were recog-nized in antiquity and are of course not scientific discoveries. They are infact not empirical discoveries of any sort; they are traits that are uniquelyhu man by definition. The principal contr ibutio n o f science has been to rede-fine those traits whenever it was necessary to pro tect their axiomatic hu manuniqueness from the threat of empirical reality.

    This claim can be expressed less out rage ous ly by saying that diagnos tichuman traits, like any diagnostic traits, need to be redefined when they provenot to be diagnostic. Many other animals obviously have traits that couldbe regarded as bipedalism, language, technology, and so on, depending onhow those terms are defined. No wadays , scientists are careful to define thoseterms in such a way that they exclude no nh um an behaviors . (A medieval bes-tiarist, who could rely on supern atural criteria of huma n uniqueness, would

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    180 Cartmiil

    have been less careful.) If those terms were defined more generously, so asto encompass behaviors and traits o f other species, they would not do thejob we expect of th em -n am el y, identifying human capacities that distin-guish us from other animals and that account for our superiority.

    B R A I N S I Z E A N D B R A I N / B O D Y A L L O M E T R Y

    The definitional character of human uniqueness is clearly seen in com-parisons of human brain size with those of other animals. Human beingsare large mammals and have usually large brains. However, severalmammals-whales, dolphins, elephants-have brains that are too large tofit inside a human skull (data lying above line A in Fig. 1). Since humanbeings are uniquely intelligent and the brain is the seat of intelligence, hu-man brain weight (1-2 kg) must be uniquely large. Our science's task is toshow that the seemingly larger brains of elephants (5-6 kg) and whales (upto 7 kg) are actually smaller.

    The first step toward this end is to look at relative brain size-that is,brain weight as a percentage of body weight. That percentage is lower inelephants (0.09%) and cetaceans (0.01-1.16~ than it is in H om o sap iens(1.6-3.0o70), and so our brains are relatively larger than theirs (which ac-cordingly lie below line B in Fig. 1). This is the desired conclusion.

    Unfortunately, our relative brain size is equalled or exceeded by thoseof many smaller mammals, including squirrel monkeys (Saimiri: 2.8-4.0o/o),red squirrels (Tamiasciurus: 2.0-2.5%), chipmunks (Tamias: 3:0o7o), andjumping mice (Zapus: 3.4-3.6o/o) (Crile and Quiring, 1940; Bauchot and Ste-phan, 1969; Ridgway and Brownson, 1972). Allometric analysis must there-fore be invoked to rescue the axiom of human cerebral preeminence.The first step in such an analysis is to assume that the interspecific regres-sion of the logarithm of brain weight on that of body weight ought to bea straight line. There is no theoretical justification for this assumption. Theshape of the actual bivariate scatter (Fig. 1) is at least as compatible withCount's (1947) contention that such regressions ought to follow a paraboliccurve. However, fitting a straight line (line C in Fig. 1) to that curved scatterof points has a welcome consequence: it leaves the datum for H o m o lyingmuch further above the best-fit line than do the upper and lower ends ofthe distribution (which are the parts o f the distribution that are problematicfor comparisons with human brain size). We can now identify relative brainsize with deviation from the regression line, and may conclude accordinglythat human beings have uniquely large brains for their body size, when wetake allometry into account.However, even after correction for allometry, the difference in relativebrain size between H o m o and some porpoises remains embarrasingly small.It has recently been found that this persistent difficul ty can be dealt with

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    Human Uniqueness in Paleoanthropology 181by assuming tha t brain size ought in theory to be proportional to the organ-ism's total metabolic energy (i.e., body weight times basal metabolic rate;Armstrong, 1986). Porpoises have higher BMRs than Homo, and thus de-vote a smaller percentage of their total metabolic energy to the upkeep oftheir brains. Therefore, their brains are really much smaller than ou rs-asa fraction of the total economy of the b o d y - for their body size, when wetake allometry into account: Q.E.D.

    None of this should be taken as impugning the conventional argumentsand conclusions concerning brain /bo dy allometry, or the proposition tha tbrain size is in general proportional to BMR. There is nothing wrong withsaying that human beings have somewhat larger brains than other animalsof their size. But the difference between people and porpoises in relative brainsize is slight, and its meaning is unclear. Allometry should not be invokedto make it look decisive. To say that "super-high human bra in/body ratiosappear to be supported by a higher proportion of the body's energetics beingused by the brain than in other mammals," whereas apparently similarbrain /body ratios in porpoises really "overlap those of an th ro p o i d s . . , af-ter accounting for their high BMR" (Armstrong, 1986), is a maneuver thata lizard might with equal justice use to prove that mammals don't really havebigger brains than reptiles, but only higher metabolic rates.

    The large brain/body ratios of porpoises are generally regarded through-out the scientific literature on the subject as a puzzling anomaly to be ex-plained away. (The anomaly here may actually be greater than the numbersindicate; because metabolically inactive fats and oils make up a dispropor-tionately large fraction of the cetacean body, body weight may overestimateeffective body size in cetaceans, and porpoises may only seem to have sub-human bra in/bod y ratios, for the same reason that obese men and womenhave.) On the other hand, the aberrantly large brain/body ratio ofHomois regarded as a welcome anomaly, to be preserved and cherished. The devi-ation of the human datum from supposed laws governing brain size is takenas evidence supporting those laws, because people are not supposed to fitthe general mammalian picture when anything involving intelligence is inquestion.

    In fact, our concept of intelligence is itself built on the foundation ofthe animal-human boundary . This fact is nowhere more obvious than in thecase of the famous horse named Clever Hans, whose name has been promi-nently mentioned in recent work on primate communication.

    T H R E E M E N O N A H O R S E

    Hans was a Russian trotting horse resident in Germany at the turn ofthe century. His owner and trainer, a retired German mathematics teacher

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    182 Cartmili

    n a m e d v o n O s t e n , h a d s p e n t s e v e ra l y e a r s t r y i n g t o t e a c h H a n s t o d o t h in g ss e e m i n g ly i m p o s s i b le f o r a h o rs e : t o u n d e r s t a n d w r i t te n a n d s p o k e n G e r m a n ,t o d o s im p l e a r i t h m e t i c , a n d t o d is t in g u i s h c o n s o n a n t f r o m d i s s o n a n t m u s i -c a l c h o r d s . V o n O s t e n ' s la b o r s h a d a p p a r e n t l y b e e n c r o w n e d w i t h a s to n i s h -i n g su c ce ss . C l e v e r H a n s , a s t h e h o r s e b e c a m e k n o w n i n t h e n e w s p a p e r s , w o u l da n s w e r q u e s t io n s o n a l l t h e se s u b j e c ts b y n o d d i n g h i s h e a d , t a p p i n g o n e h o o f ,p o i n t i n g w i t h h i s n o s e , o r p i c k i n g u p a d e s i g n a t e d o b j e c t i n h i s t e e t h . H i sa n s w e r s w e r e g e n e ra l ly c o r r e c t, s o l o n g a s t h e q u e s t i o n e r w a s a p e r s o n f a m i l ia rt o h i m ; i t w a s n o t n e c e s s a r y t h a t y o n O s t e n b e p r e s e n t. A s e l f - a p p o i n t e d c o m -m i s s i o n o f 13 e x p e r ts u n d e r t o o k a n i n v e s ti g a ti o n o f t h e C l e v e r H a n s p h e n o m e -n o n d u r i n g t h e s u m m e r o f 1 90 4. T h e c o m m i s s i o n i n c lu d e d e x p e r t s o f al l t h er e l e v a n t s o r ts , f r o m t h e c i rc u s m a n a g e r P a u l B u s c h t o P r o f . C a r l S t u m p f ,f o u n d e r a n d D i r e c t o r o f t h e P s y c h o l o g i c a l I n s t i t u te a t th e U n i v e r s i t y o f B e r -l in . D e s p i t e t h e i r i m p r e s s i v e c r e d e n ti a l s a n d m a n i f o l d e x p e r ti s e , th e c o m m i s -s i o n m e m b e r s w e r e u n a b l e t o d e t e c t a n y c u e s o r s i g n a l s t h a t H a n s m i g h t b er e c e i v i n g f r o m v o n O s t e n o r h i s o t h e r i n t e r r o g a t o r s .

    F i v e d a y s a f t e r t h e H a n s - C o m m i s s i o n m a d e i ts r e p o r t , P r o f . S t u m p fw e n t b a c k t o B e r l in , l e a v i n g th e i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n t h e h a n d s o f h is s t u d e n t O s -k a r P f u n g s t . P f u n g s t t h e n u n d e r t o o k t h e c la s si c e x p e r i m e n t a l s tu d y t h a t h a si m m o r t a l i z e d h is n a m e ( o r a t a n y r a t e H a n s ' s ) . B y v a r y in g o n e c o n d i t i o n o ft h e te s t in g s i tu a t i o n a f t e r a n o t h e r , P f u n g s t w a s a b l e t o e s t a b l is h t h a t H a n s ' st r a i n e r a n d q u e s t i o n e r s w e r e i n d e e d g i v i ng H a n s v i s u al c u es t h a t g u i d e d h i sr e s p o n s e s , b u t t h a t t h e s e c u e s w e r e s o s u b t l e t h a t o n l y H a n s h a d n o t i c e d th e m .T h e h o r s e w a s r e a d in g s u r p r i s i n g ly m i n u t e c h a n g e s i n h u m a n m u s c l e te n s i o na n d b o d y p o s t u r e : t i n y t h i n g s , l ik e f l a r i n g o f t h e n o s t ri l s ( P f u n g s t , 1 9 11 , p .6 3 ) a n d h e a d m o v e m e n t s a s s m a l l a s 0 . 2 m m ( p . 1 2 5), t h a t h a d b e e n u n -c o n s c i o u s o n y o n O s t e n ' s p a r t a n d h a d w h o l l y e s c a p e d th e a t t e n t i o n o ft h e p r e v i o u s e x p e r t o b s e r v e r s .

    A l l t h i s w a s w i d e l y r e g a r d e d a s a t r i u m p h o f s c i e n ti f ic o b s e r v a t i o n . Y e to d d l y e n o u g h , i t w a s r e g a rd e d a s a t r i u m p h f o r P f u n g s t a n d n o t f o r H a n s .P f u n g s t d i d r e c o g n i z e t h a t " H a n s s ti ll r e m a i n s a p h e n o m e n o n 9 . . i n e x c e l-l in g a ll h is cr it ic s in th e p o w e r o f o b s e r v a t i o n " ( P f u n g s t , 1 9 11 , p . 1 75 ). B u th e t o o k c o n s i d e r a b l e p a in s t o d e n y t h a t a n y m e n t a l a c t i v it y h a d b e e n i n v o l v e di n H a n s ' s o b s e r v a t i o n s o f H o m o s ap ie ns. H a n s , s a i d P f u n g s t , w a s " r a t h e r l ik ea m a c h i n e th a t m u s t b e s t a rt e d a n d k e p t g o i n g b y a c e r t a in a m o u n t o f f u el( in t h e f o r m o f b r e a d a n d c a r r o t s ) " ( p . 2 0 2) . H a n s ' s s u p e r h u m a n f e a ts o f o b -s e r v a t i o n , P f u n g s t c o n c l u d e d ( p . 2 4 0 ) ,

    9 . . are founded first upon a one-sided developm ent of the pow er of perceiving heslightest mov ements of the questioner, secondly upon the intense and continued, butequally one-sided, pow er of attention, and lastly upon a rather limited mem ory, bymeans o f w hich the anim al is able to associate perceptions of mov ement with a sm allnumber of m ovementsof its own which have become horoughly habitual. The horse'sability to perceive mov ements greatly exceeds that of the av erage man. Th is superi-

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    Hu m an Uniqueness in Paleoanthropology 183ority is probab ly due to a different constitution of the retina, and perhaps also ofthe br a in . . . All conclusionswith regard to the presenceof emotionalreactions, suchas stubbornness, etc., hav e bee n show n to be without warrant. W ith regard to theemotional life we are justified in concluding from the b ehavior of the horse that thedesire for food is the only effective spring to action.

    I n t h e c o n t e x t o f t h o s e l a s t s e n t e n ce s , i t is g r a t i f y i n g t o l e a r n t h a t H a n sm a n a g e d t o b i te P f u n g s t g o o d a n d h a r d a t le a st t w i ce d u r in g t h e c o u r s e o ft h e s t u d y ( S t u m p f , 1 91 1) . N o d o u b t H a n s m i s t o o k h i m f o r f o o d .

    P f u n g s t w a s , as H e d i g e r ( 19 8 1) p u t it , " o b s e s s e d b y t h e w i s h . . . t op r o v e t h a t a h o r s e o r a n y o t h e r a n i m a l c o u l d n o t th i n k i n a h u m a n w a y . "P f u n g s t ' s b i a s r e f l e c t e d t h e f e el in g s o f h is s u p e r v i s o r , P r o f . S t u m p f , a b o u tD a r w i n i s m a n d t h e b o u n d a r i e s b e t w e e n h u m a n i t y a n d t h e l o w e r o r d e r s .S t u m p f w a s 5 6 y e a rs o l d i n 1 9 04 . H i s u n i v e r s i ty t r a i n i n g a t W u r z b u r g , w h e r eh e h a d b e e n a s t u d e n t a n d d i s c i p l e o f t h e b r i l l i a n t y o u n g p r i e s t F r a n zB r e n t a n o , h a d m a d e a d e v o u t C a t h o l i c a n d f e r v e n t A r i s t o t e li a n o f h i m( B o r i n g , 1 9 5 7 ) . H e h a d b e g u n h i s o w n a c a d e m i c c a r e e r a s a p h i l o s o p h e r ,s p e ci al iz in g i n t h e m i n d - b o d y p r o b l e m ( c f. S t u m p f , 1 89 6), b u t h a d m o v e do v e r i n t o s c i e n t i f i c p s y c h o l o g y a s i t g r a d u a l l y d i s e n t a n g l e d i t s e l f f r o mp h i l o s o p h i c a l p s y c h o l o g y a n d p h y s i o l o g y d u r i n g t h e l a t te r h a l f o f t h e 1 9 thc e n t u r y . S t u m p f a p p e a r s t o h a v e b e e n a s t if f , g l o o m y , a r i s to c r a t ic m a n , al iv i ng c a r ic a t u r e o f a 1 9 t h - c e n tu r y G e r m a n i n te l le c tu a l . W o l f g a n g K 6 h l e r( 19 3 7) re m e m b e r e d h i m a s b e in g m o r e p r e o c c u p i e d w i t h th o s e c h a r a c t e ri s ti cp r e - w a r G e r m a n v i r t u e s , Besonnenheit ( r a t i o n a l s e l f - c o n t r o l ) a n d Mass (as e ns e o f w h a t is fi tt in g a n d p r o p e r ) , t h a n a n y o t h e r h u m a n b e in g K 6 h l e r h a de v e r m e t .

    S t u m p f c o n t r i b u t e d a p r e f a c e a n d a p p e n d i c e s t o P f u n g s t 's b o o k . ( Int h e s e a d d e n d a , S t u m p f e x p l i c it l y c l a i m e d t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n a s h is o w n w o r k ,c r e d it i n g P f u n g s t o n l y w i t h d e t e r m i n i n g e x a c t l y which v i s u a l c u e s H a n s h a db e e n r es p o n d i n g t o . ) S t u m p f t h o u g h t t h a t t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t f in d in g o f t h eC l e v e r H a n s s t u d y w a s t h e c o n c l u s iv e l y d e m o n s t r a t e d a b s e n c e o f " t h e s li gh t -e st t ra c e o f c o n c e p t u a l t h i n k i n g " i n t h e l o w e r o r d e r s o f t h e Scala Naturae," u p t o a n d i n c lu d i n g t h e u n g u l a t e s " ( S t u m p f , 1 90 4) . T h e d u b i o u s h y p o t h e s i so f " t h e e ss e n ti al s im i l a ri ty o f th e h u m a n a n d a n i m a l m i n d , w h i c h d o c t r i n eh a s b e e n c o m i n g m o r e a n d m o r e i n t o f a v o r s i nc e t h e ti m e o f D a r w i n " ( S t u m p f ,1 9 11 ), h a d a c c o r d i n g l y r e c e i v e d a s h a r p r e b u k e , j u s t a s S t u m p f h a d e x p e c t -e d . S t u m p f h a p p i l y a s s u r e d " d i s a p p o i n t e d D a r w i n i s ts " t h a t " f o r l o ve r s o ft r u t h , i t m u s t a lw a y s r e m a i n a m a t t e r o f i n c o n s e q u e n c e w h e t h e r a n y o n e isp l e a s e d o r d i s p l ea s e d w i t h t h e t r u t h , a n d w h e t h e r it is e n u n c i a t e d b y A r i s t o -t l e o r H a e c k e l " ( S t u m p f , 1 9 11 ). W e a r e l e ft i n li tt le d o u b t a s t o w h i c h o ft h e t w o S t u m p f s i d e d w i t h .

    T h e a n t i - D a r w i n i a n b i as e s o f t h e m a n w h o d i r e c te d t h e C l e v e r H a n ss t u d y h a v e s in c e b e e n f o r g o t t e n , a n d s u b s e q u e n t g e n e r a t i o n s o f p s y c h o l o -g is ts h a v e r e m e m b e r e d o n l y t w o c o n c l u si o n s g en e r a ll y d r a w n f r o m P f u n g s t 's

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    1 8 4 C a r t m i l l

    b o o k . T h e f i r s t i s t h a t a n i m a l s c a n n o t u n d e r s t a n d w h a t w e s a y a n d d o n o th a v e a n y t h i n g m u c h l ik e h u m a n i n te l li g en c e . T h e s e c o n d is t h a t e x p e r i m e n t e r ss h o u l d a l w a y s h i d e b e h i n d a s c r ee n s o th a t t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l a n i m a l s c a n n o tt el l w h a t t h e y a r e t h i n k i n g . T h o s e t w o c o n c l u s i o n s a r e i ll - c o n s o rt e d b e d m a t e s .A t h i r d p o ss i b le c o n c l u s i o n - t h a t s o m e h o r se s a re k e e n er o b s e r v e rs o f h u -m a n b e h a v i o r t h a n m o s t p s y c h o lo g i s ts - h a s n o t g o t t e n in t o m a n y p s y c h o l o -g y t e x t b o o k s .

    W h y n o t ? A f t e r a ll , th a t c o n c l u s i o n is a f a i r e n o u g h s t a t e m e n t o f t h ef a c t s o f th e c a s e . I t i s w h a t P f u n g s t h i m s e l f s a y s , a f t e r w e d i s c o u n t h is m i s -t a k e n c o n j e c t u r e s a b o u t h o r s e r e t in a s a n d h is d e p r e c a t i o n o f H a n s ' s " o n e - s i d e d "a b i li ti e s ( w h a t e v e r th a t w o r d m e a n s ) . B u t t h e c o n c l u s i o n t h a t h o r s e s a r e ins o m e r e s p e c ts m o r e i n t e l l i g e n t t h a n p s y c h o l o g i s t s is n o t r e a l l y o n e t h a t w eh a v e t h e o p t i o n o f a d o p t i n g . T h e p e r c e p t u a l a n d s o ci al s e ns i ti v it y t h a t e n a -b l e d C l e v e r H a n s t o u n c o v e r h i s i n t e r r o g a t o r s ' d e l i b e r a t e l y c o n c e a l e d d e si re sd o e s n o t c o u n t a s g e n u i n e c le v e rn e s s , p r e c is e l y b e c a u s e h o r s e s a p p e a r t o h a v em o r e o f it t h a n w e d o ; a n d h o r se s c a n n o t b e m o r e i n te ll ig e nt th a n p e o p l e -b y d e f i n i t i o n . I f h o r s e s o u t p e r f o r m p e o p l e o n a s u p p o s e d t e s t o f i n te l li g e n ce ,t h a t i n v a li d a te s t h e t e st . W h a t w e m e a n b y t h e w o r d " i n te l li g e n c e" is w h a t e v e rd i st in g u is h e s t h e h u m a n m i n d f r o m t h o s e o f b e a s ts .

    A N I M A L S A N D L A N G U A G ES i m i la r ly , w h a t w e m e a n b y " l a n g u a g e " is w h a t e v e r s u b s t a n t ia t e s t h e

    j u d g m e n t t h a t n o n h u m a n a n i m a l s a re u n a b l e t o t a lk . S e v e n t y y e a r s a g o , i tw a s c l e a r t o S a u s s u r e ( 1 91 5 ) t h a t t h e c r u c i a l d i s ti n g u i s h i n g f e a t u r e o f t h e " l in -g u i s ti c si g n " w a s t h e a r b i t r a r y r e l a t i o n o f a s i gn a l p a t t e r n t o a c o n c e p t . D u r -i n g t h e 1 94 0s a n d 1 95 0s , L e sl ie W h i t e g r o u n d e d a n i n f l u e n t i a l v i e w o f h u m a nd i st in c ti v en e s s in t h e p r o p o s i t i o n t h a t o n l y h u m a n b e i ng s c a n c r e a t e s u c h a r -b i t r a r y r e la t io n s , a l t h o u g h o t h e r a n i m a l s c a n b e t r a in e d t o r e c o g n i z e t h e m :

    T h e d i f fe r e n ce b e t w e e n t h e b e h a v i o r o f m a n a n d o t h e r a n i m a l s , t h e n , i s th a t t h e l o w -e r a n i m a l s m a y r e ce iv e n e w v a l u e s, m a y a c q u i r e n e w m e a n i n g s , b u t t h e y c a n n o t c re -a te a n d b e s t o w t h e m . O n l y m a n c a n d o t h i s . . . A n d t h is d i f fe r e n ce i s o n e o f k i n d ,n o t o f d e g r e e: a c r e a t u r e c a n e i t h e r " a r b i t r a r i l y i m p o s e s i g n i f i c a t i o n , " c a n e i t h e r cr e -a t e a n d b e s t o w v a l u es , or h e c a n n o t . T h e r e a r e n o i n t e rm e d i a t e s t a g e s . . . B e c a u s eh u m a n b e h a v i o r i s s y m b o l b e h a v io r a n d s i nc e t h e b e h a v io r o f i n f r a - h u m a n s p ec ie si s n o n - s y m b o l i c , i t f o ll o w s t h a t w e c a n l e a rn n o t h i n g a b o u t h u m a n b e h a v i o r f r o mo b s e r v a t i o n s u p o n o r e x p e r i m e n t s w i t h t h e lo w e r a n i m a l s . ( W h i t e , 1 94 9, p p . 2 9 -3 5 )

    H o w e v e r , m o r e r e c e n t l y , m a s t e r y o f s y n t a c t ic a l re l a ti o n s h i p s h a s b e e ni d e n t i f i e d as t h e c r u c i a l m a r k e r o f h u m a n s t a tu s . S y n t a x , i t s e e m s , is " p r e -c i s el y w h a t d i s t i n g u i s h e s o u r s p e c i es f r o m o t h e r s " ( B i c k e r t o n , 1 9 8 7) , a n d t r u el a n g u a g e o u g h t p r o p e r l y t o b e u n d e r s t o o d a s "t h e a b il it y t o c r e a t e a n d u n d e r -s t a n d s e n te n c e s , " w h i c h " ch a r a c t er i s ti c a ll y e x p r e s s . . , a c o m p l e t e s e m a n t i c

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    proposition through a set of words and phrases, each bearing particular gram-matical relations to each other" (Terrace e t a l . , 1979).

    This difference between earlier and later definitions of language is atleast partly due to our increased knowledge of the linguistic capacities andlimitations of other animals. Chimpanzees have so far not demonstrated anability to employ syntax productively (although they, like bottlenosed dol-phins, can understand syntactic differences between strings of signals: Pre-mack, 1976; Herman, 1986). However, they can learn to relate a sequenceof signals to a concept, and have manifested at least an occasional abilityto assign new meanings to arbitrary signs (Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986, p. 276).In the face of this new evidence, language has been preserved as a markerof human status by redefining it in terms of syntax rather than semantics.The Gardners (Gardner and Gardner, 1974), of course, believed thatthe chimpanzee Washoe was creating a new meaning syntactically when shesaw her first swan and signed w a t e r b i rd . Terrace, who has argued forceful-ly that most of the ape-language experiments represent Clever Hans phenome-na, offers a different interpretation:

    T h e s i m p l e s t n o n g r a m m a t i c a l i n t e r p r e t a ti o n o f s u c h u t t e r a n c e s i s t h a t t h e y c o n t a i ns i g n s t h a t a r e r e l at e d s o l e ly b y c o n t e x t . U p o n b e i n g a s k e d w h a t s h e s ee s w h e n l o o k -i n g i n t h e d i r e c t io n o f a s w a n i t i s a p p r o p r i a t e f o r W a s h o e t o s i g n w a t e r a n d bird .I n t h i s v i e w , if W a s h o e k n e w t h e s i g n fo r s k y , s h e m i g h t j u s t a s r e a d i ly h a v e s i g n e ds u c h l e s s i n t e r e st i n g c o m b i n a t i o n s a s s k y w a t e r, b i r d s k y , s k y b i r d w a t er , a n d s o o n.( T e r r a c e , 1 9 8 3 , p . 2 1 )That is to say, Washoe was not really talking; she was just describing

    the landscape to someone who had asked her what she saw. Fifty years agosuch a performance would have been a reason for claiming that the chim-panzee was talking; now it actually counts as evidence against that claim.

    LANGUAGE AND THINKINGBecause language is (by definition) unique to human beings, it has been

    widely equated with thought; as Wittgenstein (1958, p. 6) put it, "Thinkingis essentially the activity of operating with signs." Although few modern stu-dents of comparative psychology have subscribed to the Cartesian view ofanimals as insensate machines made of meat, until recently the prevailingview has been that animals have sensation and emotions but lack "all thehigher intellectual, aesthetic, and moral feelings, as well as volition guidedby motives" (Pfungst, 1911, p. 16). "The intellectual life of a cat or dog,"wrote Thorndike (1911, p. 123),

    9 . . i s m o s t l ik e w h a t w e f e el w h e n c o n s c i o u s n e s s c o n t a i n s l i tt le t h o u g h t a b o u t a n y -t h i n g , w h e n w e f e el t h e s e n s e - i m p r e s s i o n s i n t h e ir f i r s t in t e n t i o n , s o t o s p e a k , w h e n

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    w e f ee l o u r o w n b o d y , a n d t h e i m p u l s e s w e g i ve t o i t. S o m e t i m e s o n e g e t s th i s a n i m a lc o n s c i o u s n e s s w h i l e in s w i m m i n g , f o r e x a m p l e . O n e f e e l s t h e w a t e r , t h e s k y , t h e b i r d sa b o v e , b u t w i t h n o t h o u g h t s a b o u t t h e m o r m e m o r i e s o f h o w t h e y l o o k e d a t o t h ert i m e s . . . S e l f - c o n s c i o u s n e s s d ie s a w a y . S o c i al c o n s c i o u s n e s s d ie s a w a y . T h e m e a n -i n g s , a n d v a l u e s , a n d c o n n e c t i o n s o f t h i n g s d ie a w a y . O n e f e e ls s e n s e - im p r e s s i o n s ,h a s i m p u l s e s , fe e ls t h e m o v e m e n t s h e m a k e s ; t h a t i s a ll .

    T h i s d r e a m y u n a w a r e n e s s o f " t h e m e a n i n g s , a n d v a lu e s , a n d c o n n e c -t i o n s o f t h i n g s , " l i k e m a n y o f t h e o t h e r i n t e l l e c t u a l d e f i c i e n c i e s o f n o n h u -m a n a n i m a l s , i s s u p p o s e d l y e n t a il e d b y t h e i r i n a b i l i ty t o f o r m c o n c e p t s .A l t h o u g h m a n y p h i lo s o p h e r s a n d p s y c h o l o g i st s a g r e e t h a t c o n c e p t u a l t h in k -i n g is t h e c r u c i a l d i s ti n c t i o n o f t h e h u m a n m i n d , t h e r e i s l es s a g r e e m e n t a b o u tw h a t i t i s . A d l e r ( 1 9 6 7 ) d e f i n e s a c o n c e p t a s a n a c q u i r e d d i s p o s i t i o n t o u n -d e r s t a n d w h a t k i n d o f t h i n g a n o b j e c t is a n d w h a t t h a t k i n d o f th i n g is l i k e -o r , t o u s e t h e s c h o l a s t ic l a n g u a g e t h a t A d l e r i s c a r e f u l l y a v o i d i n g h e r e , a d is -p o s i t i o n t o c o m p r e h e n d t h e e s s en c e o f a s p e c ie s . E x a c t l y w h a t t h is e n t ai lsi s u n c l e a r ; h o w e v e r , i t s e e m s s a f e t o s a y t h a t i t m u s t b e c l o s e l y a s s o c i a t e dw i t h la n g u a g e , a n d t h a t h o r se s a r e p r o b a b l y n o t v e r y g o o d a t it . P f u n g s t( 1 91 1 , p . 1 6) o f f e r s a le s s r a r e f i e d d e f i n i t i o n o f a c o n c e p t a s

    9 . . a m e n t a l c o n s t r u c t w h i c h h a s i t s s o u r c e i n i d e a s , o r m e m o r y - i m a g e s , i n t h a t t h e i re s s e n t i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a re a b s t r a c t e d . F o r t h i s r e a s o n t h e c o n c e p t h a s n o t a d e f i n i t ei m a g e - c o n t e n t . ( T h u s t h e t h o u g h t o f " h o r s e " in g e n e ra l i s a c o n c e p t . N o t s o t h e t h o u g h to f a c e r ta i n i n d i v i d u a l h o r s e - t h a t i s a n i d e a , w i th a d e f in i t e i m a g e - c o n t e n t . )

    I t s e e m s t h a t a n i m a l s , w h i c h a r e i n P f u n g s t ' s v i e w i n c a p a b l e o f c o n -c e p t u a l t h i n k i n g , m u s t e i t h e r l a c k i d e a s a l to g e t h e r o r e l se t h i n k ( if t h a t ist h e w o r d ) w h o l l y i n t e r m s o f p a r t ic u l a r i n d i v i d u a l s , l ik e s o m e o n e c o n d e m n e dt o s p e a k a l a n g u a g e c o n s i st in g e n ti r e ly o f p r o p e r n o u n s . S u c h a v i e w o f a n i m a lm e n t a t i o n i s su r p r i s in g l y w i d e s p r e a d . I t l e a ds e v e n s o s y m p a t h e t i c a n d p e r -c e p t i v e a p s y c h o l o g i s t a s H e d i g e r , f o r e x a m p l e , t o r e j e c t P a t t e r s o n ' s ( 1 97 8)c l a im t h a t t h e g o r i ll a K o k o is a b le t o i d e n t i f y h e r s e lf as a n o n h u m a n a n i m a la n d h e r t r a i n e r s a s h u m a n b e i n g s :

    K o k o h a s s t u d i e d n ei th e r z o o l o g y n o r a n t h r o p o l o g y . S h e c a n n o t d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e nm a n a n d a n i m a l s a s t w o d i f f e r e n t c a te g o r i e s o f t h e z o o l o g i c a l s y s t e m . A s w i t h e a c ha n i m a l s h e la c k s th e n o t i o n o f s p e ci e s. T h e r e f o r e s h e c o u ld n o t k n o w t h a t s h e be -l o n g s t o t h e s p e c i es Gorilla go rilla a n d t h e h u m a n b e i n g s s u r r o u n d i n g h e r t o H o m os a p i e n s . . . W e h a v e t o a s s u m e t h a t K o k o , b a s e d o n h e r a ss i m i l a ti o n te n d e n c y , s ee si n h e r m i s t r e s s (f o r t h e t i m e b e i n g ) a s u p e r i o r s p e c i m e n o f h e r o w n s p e c ie s , t h a t i sa n o t h e r g o r i l l a . ( H e d i g e r , 1 9 8 1)

    W h a t H e d i g e r a s s e rt s h e r e h a s b e e n s u f f i c i e n t l y r e f u t e d b y S a v a g e -R u m b a u g h ' s ( 19 81 , 1 98 6) l a b o r a t o r y s t u d ie s o f c a t e g o r y r e c o g n i t io n i n c h im -p a n z e e s ; h o w e v e r , i n r e t r o s p e c t , i t se e m s r e m a r k a b l e t h a t i t w a s a s s e r te d a ta ll . D i d a n y o n e e v er d o u b t t h a t h u m a n b e in g s , n o m a t t e r h o w i g n o r a n t o fz o o l o g y a n d s y s t e m a t ic s , a re a b l e t o d i s t in g u i s h b e t w e e n h u m a n b e i n gs a n dg o r i ll a s ? Is it o n l y l a n g u a g e t h a t m a k e s t h a t d i s c r i m i n a t i o n p o s si b le ? D o e st h e p r e v e r b a l t o d d l e r p e r c e i v e a d i f f e r e n c e in k i n d b e t w e e n i ts p e t c a t a n d

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    its father? If not, h o w d o e s i t l ea r n t o u s e t h e w o r d s " c a t " a n d " m a n " c o r-r e c t l y ? Although many of the concepts that we use to organize the worldhave verbal labels and have been imposed on our thinking by the traditionsof our speech community, many of our con cepts -per haps most of th em -lack verbal equivalents. We all recognize categories of natural and artificialobjects for which we have no names. I do not know the name of the smallyellow flowers that proliferate in my pasture, but I nevertheless recognizethem as a natural kind with certain universal characteristics-for example,their unpalatability to horses. It seems parsimonious to assume that my horseis capable of a similar degree of abstraction and does not have to treat eachof several thousand nasty-tasting little yellow flowers as a unique individu-al. To quote Midgley (1985, p. 56):If language were really the only source of conceptual order, all animals except manwould live in a totally disordered world. They could not be said to vary in intelli-gence, since they could not have the use of anything that could reasonably be calledintelligence at a l l . . . The truth seems to be that- even for humans- a great deal ofthe order of the world is pre-verbally determined, being the gift of faculties whichwe share with other animals. (Babies would be a lot worse off were this not so.) Ofcourse the addition of language builds a magnificent superstructure on this founda-tion. But it does not replace it.

    The proposition that "animals do not think as we do, when we thinkin words, and that in so far as we are only conscious when we think in words,they lack conscious awareness" (Walker, 1983, p. 387) may seem plausibleand attractive to academics and others who work with words for a living,but its implications are unacceptable. If thinking is essentially the activityof operating with words or mental images, then neither the musician improvis-ing at the keyboard, nor the potter throwing a vase on the wheel, nor thechoreographer blocking out a sequence of dance steps, nor the fencerexecuting a deceptive feint, nor the soccer player planning an assault on anundefended goal, are thinking. If we insist on denying that such complexnonverbal skills involve "thinking," some other word is needed to distinguishthem from mere passive sentience or reflex action; and the same holds truefor the less formalized but otherwise comparable mental abilities of manynonhuman animals. Thorndike's (1911, p. 284) claim, that the skills of ath-letes, artists, and aesthetes are grounded merely in "the selection of impulses"and are therefore of a low and bestial sort, compa red to those o f more ana-lytic thinkers like himself, is a notion that only a college professor or otherprofessional wordsmith could ever have taken seriously.

    CONCLUSIONSWhether chimpanzees, dolphins, and other animals can think or talk

    is a matter of definition. But it seems obvious that they can do mo re along

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    188 Cartmil l

    t h o s e l in e s t h a n w e h a v e u n t i l r e c e n t l y b e e n w i l li n g t o a d m i t , a n d t h a t w h a tt h e y c a n d o is a n e ce s s a r y p r e r eq u i s i te t o w h a t o n l y w e c a n d o . W h e t h e rW a s h o e ' s " w a t e r b i r d " w a s o n e s i g n ed n o u n o r t w o , h e r a b il it y t o m a k e s u c ha s ig n al in r e s p o n s e t o a t r ai n e r 's q u e s t i o n - t o p e r c ei v e t h a t q u e s t i o n a s aq u e s t i o n , a n d t o r e p l y t o it w i t h s e m a n t ic a l ly a p p r o p r i a t e a n s w e r s - i s p a r to f a s u b s t r a t u m o f a n i m a l c o g n i t i v e a n d c o m m u n i c a t i v e c ap a c it ie s w i t h o u tw h i c h l a n g u a g e a n d t h i n k i n g o f a d is t in c t iv e l y h u m a n k i n d w o u l d b e i m p o s -s i bl e . A s B i c k e r t o n ( 19 8 7 ) p u t i t, " O n e o f th e r e m a r k a b l e t h i n g s a b o u t a p e sis t h a t t h e y s e e m t o h a v e n o t t h e s l i gh t e st d i f f i c u l t y i n d i s ti n g u i s h in g b e t w e e np r o p e r a n d c o m m o n n o u n s . "

    T h i s is t h e s o r t o f p r o t o l i n g u i s t i c f a c t a b o u t p r i m a t e c o g n i t i o n th a t n e e d st o b e i n v e s ti g a te d a n d s t u d ie d i f w e h o p e t o l e a rn a n y t h i n g a b o u t t h e o r i g ino f l a n g u a g e . B u t s u c h q u e s t i o n s d o n o t g e t a s k e d a s l o n g a s w e r e m a i n f i x a t -e d o n h u m a n u n i q u e n e s s . N e i t h e r d o m a n y s im i l ar q u e s t io n s a b o u t o t h e r su p -p o s e d l y u n i q u e h u m a n c a p ac i ti e s. I t is n o t e w o r t h y , f o r in s t a n c e , t h a t n o to n e o f al l t h e p h y s ic a l a n t h r o p o l o g i s t s w h o h a s s t u d i ed a n d t h e o r i z e d a b o u tt h e m y s t e r y o f h u m a n b i p e d a l i sm a n d i ts o ri g in s h a s e v e r u n d e r t a k e n a s ys -t e m a t i c c o m p a r i s o n o f h u m a n b e i ng s w i t h la r ge f li g ht le s s b i r d s. A c o m p a r a -t i v e s t u d y o f o s t r i c h e s o r e m p e r o r p e n g u i n s m i g h t s h e d a g r e a t d e a l o f l i g h to n o u r o w n l o c o m o t o r h a b i t s - a n d i t w o u l d a t l ea st d i s co u r a g e s o l em np r o n o u n c e m e n t s a b o u t w h a t e x t r a o rd i n a r y c o o r d i n a t io n a n d t im i n g h u m a n sm u s t h a v e t o w a l k a r o u n d o n t w o l eg s w i t h o u t f a ll in g o v e r (C a m p b e l l , 1 98 5,p p . 4 5 -4 6 ). B u t s u c h s tu d i e s a re n o t u n d e r t a k e n ; w e h a v e a b s o r b e d t o o w e llo u r t e x t b o o k l e s s o n t h a t h o m i n i d s a r e u n i q u e a m o n g v e r t e b r a t e s i n b e i n gt r u l y e r e ct b i p e d s, a n d t h a t b i r d s a n d b i p e d a l d i n o s a u r s a r e n o t c o m p a r a b l eb e c a u s e t h e i r v e r t e b r a l c o l u m n s a r e n o t h e l d u p r i g h t .

    T o u n d e r s t a n d t h e o r ig i n o f a n y t h i n g , w e m u s t h a v e a n o v e r a r c h i n gb o d y o f t h e o r y t h a t g o v e r n s b o t h t h e t h in g i t s el f a n d i ts p r e c u r s o r s. W i t h o u ts u c h a b o d y o f t h e o r y , w e h a v e n o w a y o f l in k i n g t h e p r e c u r s o r t o i ts s u cc es -s o rs , a n d w e a re l e f t w i t h a n i n e f f a b l e m y s t e r y , li k e t h e o n e t h a t C h o m s k y( 1 9 6 4 , 1 9 7 5 ) a n d L e n n e b e r g ( 1 9 6 4 , 1 9 6 7 ) h a v e a l w a y s i n s i s t e d m u s t l i e a tt h e o r i g in o f s y n t a x . W e a r e a ls o l e ft w i t h a b o d y o f k n o w l e d g e t h a t c a n n o tb e u n d e r s t o o d a s a n i m p l i c a t i o n o f l a rg e r a n d m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l g e n e ra l iz a -t i o n s a b o u t t h e w o r l d , b u t i s fa t e d t o r e m a i n l o g i c a l ly i s o l a t e d in a t h e o r e t i -c a l v a c u u m l ik e t h a t s u r r o u n d i n g p a r a p s y c h o l o g y .

    T h e r e a r e , o f c o u r s e, p e o p l e w h o a r e h a p p y w i t h t h a t. S o m e o f t h e c ri ti cso f s o c i o b i o l o g y (e .g ., B o c k , 1 98 0, p . 1 49 f f .) , d e n y t h a t a n y p h e n o m e n a i nh u m a n h i s t o r y c a n b e e x p l a i n e d i n t e r m s a p p l i c a b l e t o a n i m a l s . E l d r e d g e a n dT a t t e r s a l l ( 1 9 8 2 , p . 2 4 f f . ) d e n y t h e p o s s i b i li t y o f a n y g e n e r a l t h e o r y a p p l y -i n g to m o r e t h a n o n e e v o l u t i o n a r y l i ne a g e , a n d t h e y r e j e c t s o c i o b i o l o g y o nt h a t a c c o u n t . T h i s p u t s e v o l u t i o n a r y e v e n ts o u t s i d e t h e p u r v i e w o f s c ie n ti fi c

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    Hu m an Uniqueness in Paleoanthropology 189e x p l a n a t i o n a n d r e d u ce s u s t o d r a w i n g u p c l a d o g r a m s a n d o t h e r s t a t e m e n t so f h i s to r i ca l c o i n c id e n c e . T h e c o r e o f t r u t h i n w h a t E l d r e d g e a n d T a t t e rs a l la r e a s s e r ti n g is t h a t d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n t w o s p ec ie s c a n n o t b e e x p l a i n e d b yt a k in g o n e o f t h e m a s a m o d e l f o r th e ir l as t c o m m o n a n c e s to r . A s T o o b ya n d D e V o t e ( 19 8 7) p u t i t, " E v e n i f o n e w e r e t o l e a r n e v e r y th i n g a b o u t t h eh o m i n i d - p o n g i d c o m m o n a n c es to r , m a n y o f th e m o s t c ru c ia l q ue s ti on s a b o u td i s ti n c ti v e ly h o m i n i d e v o l u t i o n w o u l d r e m a i n u n a n s w e r e d : w h y a r e w e h u -m a n s a n d n o t c h i m p a n z e e s , b o n o b o s , o r g o r i l la s ? "

    N o d o u b t , p e o p l e a r e d i ff e r e n t f r o m t h e a p e s ; b u t i t is o u r jo b a s s ci en -t is ts t o e x p l a i n t h o s e d i f f e r e n c e s. E x p l a n a t i o n , a s o p p o s e d t o m e r e s t o ry t e l-l in g , h a s t o i n v o k e l a w - l i k e r e g u l a r i ti e s c o n n e c t i n g c a u s e s a n d e f f e c t s . A s K a r lP o p p e r p u t i t :

    A singular event is the cause of another singular eve nt - w hich is its ef fe ct- only relativeto som e universal l a w s . . . In so far as we are concerned with the historical explana-tion o f typical events hey m ust necessarilybe treated as typical, as belonging o kind sor classes of events, For only then is the deductive method of causal explanation ap-plicable. (Pop per, 1957, pp. 146-147)I t f o ll o w s t h a t i f t h e r e a r e q u a l i ta t iv e h u m a n u n i q u e n e s s e s t h a t f i n d

    n o a n a l o g i e s o f a n y s o r t a m o n g o t h e r s p e ci es , th e y a r e n o t e x p l ic a b l e. O u ra i m a s s c ie n t is t s m u s t b e t o e x p l a i n a s m u c h a s p o s s i b l e : t o f i n d a n i m a l a n a -l o gs f o r h u m a n t r a it s a n d t o s e e k , as s tu d e n t s o f p r i m a t e b e h a v i o r h a v e l o n gs o u g h t , c o m m o n p a t t e r n s o f a d a p t a t i o n u n d e r l y i n g t h o s e a n al o g ie s . W e h o p et o f i n d t h a t t h e o r i g in o f o u r l a rg e b r a in s a n d l a n g u a g e a n d s o o n a r e ex -p l a i n e d b y o v e r a r c h i n g t h e o r e t i c a l r e g u l a r i t ie s t h a t a p p l y to , s a y , a ll s o c i a la n i m a l s , o r a l l f o 0 d - s h a r i n g p r e d a t o r s , o r t o w h a t e v e r c a t e g o r ie s t u r n o u tt o h a v e e x p l a n a t o r y v al u e a n d t h e o re t ic a l i m p o r t a n c e . T o a c c ep t t hi s h o p e - t os e e k t o s h o w t h a t a ll t h in g s h u m a n a r e p r e f i g u r e d o r p a r a l l e le d i n th e l iv e sa n d a d a p t a t i o n s o f o u r f e ll ow a n i m a l s - i s a t b o t t o m t o d o u b t t h e r e al it y o ft h e m o r a l b o u n d a r y t h a t s e p a r a t e s p e o p l e f r o m t h e b e a s ts . W h e t h e r w e fe a ro r w e l c o m e th e d i s s o l u t io n o f t h a t b o u n d a r y is t h e r ea l i ss u e b e h i n d m u c ho f th e r e ce n t d e b a t e o v e r p r im a t e c o m m u n i c a t i o n , s o c i o bi o lo g y , a n d h u m a ne v o l u t i o n .

    A C K N O W L E D G M E N T SI t h a n k D r s . I r v e n D e V o r e a n d K a r e n S t r i er f o r in v i t i n g m e t o p a r ti c i-

    p a t e i n t h e s y m p o s i u m a t w h i c h th i s a r ti cl e w a s p r es e n t e d . I a m ' g r a t e f u l t oD r s . K a y e B r o w n , J o h n B u e t t n e r - J a n u s c h , a n d R u s s e ll T u t t le f o r th e h e l p fu lc o m m e n t s o n e a rl ie r d r a f t s o f t h is m a n u s c r i p t , a n d t o D r s . W . C . H a l l a n d W .L . H y l a n d e r f o r p o i n t i n g o u t s e v e r a l u s e f u l r e fe r e n c e s.

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    Adle r , M. J . (1967) . T h e D i ff e r e n c e o f M a n a n d t h e D i f fe r e n c e I t M a k e s , H o l t , R i n e h a r t a n dW i n s to n , N e w Y o r k . 1 9 6 8 r e p r in t , W o r l d Pu b l i s h in g C o . , C l e v e l a n d .Arm s t rong , E . (1985). A l lo me t r ic cons ide ra t ions o f the adu l t ma mm al ian b ra in , w i th specialemphas i s on p r ima tes . In Junge rs , W. L . ( ed . ) , S i z e a n d S c a l i n g i n P r i m a t e B i o l o g y ,Plen um , New York , pp . 115 -146.Bauch o t , R . , and Stephan , H . (1966) . Donn6es nouve l le s su r r encOpha l i sa t ion des in sec t ivo rese t des p ros imiens . M a m m a l i a 30: 160-196.Bauch o t , R . , and Stephan , H . (1969) . Enc6pha l i sa t ion e t n iveau 6vo lu t i f chez les simiens .M a m m a l i a 33: 225-275.Bicke r ton , D . (1987) . Rev iew o f A p e L a n g ua g e : F r o m C o n d i t io n e d R e sp o n s e t o S y m b o l b yE. S . Sa v a g e - R u m b a u g h . I n t . J . 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