Dialogues on the Human Ape

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A primatologist and a humanist together explore the meaning of being a "human animal" Humanness is typically defined by our capacity for language and abstract thinking. Yet decades of research led by the primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh has shown that chimpanzees and bonobos can acquire human language through signing and technology. Drawing

Reviews

"These dialogues provide unique insight into ape language research. Stimulating language in apes is too ramified to be controlled intellectually or restricted to a laboratory. It requires spontaneity, taking participants beyond the known. Even communicating the work requires spontaneity, for the intellect does not know what happened. You will be amazed at what these dialogues reveal about humanness beyond humanity."Pr Segerdahl, Uppsala University

"Dialogues on the Human Ape demolishes the simple human/animal dichotomy and the idealization that only humans have language, as though language is some kind of all-or-none essence. These compelling conversations between Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Laurent Dubreuil will open minds and challenge assumptions about what it means to be a human ape."Terrence W. Deacon, University of California, Berkeley

"This book appears in an important series on Post-humanities, so academics and researchers in that field would certainly find much value in this volume as well. The book is intellectually and emotionally engaging, well written, and nicely organized."ASEBL Journal

"The book explores the continuities between the ape and human minds, addressing why language matters to consciousness, free will and the formation of the self."Cornell Chronicle

Author Bio

Laurent Dubreuil is professor of comparative literature, Romance studies, and cognitive science at Cornell University. His many books include The Intellective Space (Minnesota, 2015).

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh was senior scientist at the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary and is co-chair president of the Bonobo Hope initiative.