Precursors to human behaviour ? [en.m.wikipedia.org]
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.It was all just speculation. Chimps do have a sense of fairness if that's what is meant by moral agency. My suspicion is that higher functions like spiritualism follow language, they don't precede it. Primates definitely do not have language though, that is limited to humans. And it's still an evolutionary mystery how we acquired it.
Druvius
Level 8
June 3, 2018
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"Theologian and biologist Oliver Putz notes that, since chimpanzees are capable of moral agency, it is possible for Christians to understand them as sharing in the Image of God."
That chimpanzees are capable of moral agency is based upon what evidence?
"Furthermore, Nancy R. Howell suggests that 'chimpanzees and bonobos may have the precursors for culture and spirituality, such as connectedness, interdependence and sociality' and a level of 'symbolic capacity'".
Again, on what evidence?
"Primatologist Jane Goodall goes further, noting that some chimpanzees may "dance" at the onset of heavy rain or when they come across a waterfall. She speculates that "their "elemental" displays are precursors of religious ritual." However, theologian Christopher L. Fisher believes that Goodall anthropomorphizes chimpanzees. While Fisher admits that chimpanzees are capable of "intense emotion", he maintains that they cannot experience spirituality, because "there is no meaning without language."'
Might the chimpanzees not simply be expressing their delight at having a supply of water - isn't it rather a leap to infer that they may be imagining this new abundance as a gift from a Great Sky Primate, or even some lesser spiritual being...
moNOtheist
Level 7
June 3, 2018
1
I have no idea why L. Fisher thinks primates don't have a language.
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