Title: ‘Societies of the Wild’
Abstract:
Since Aristotle, animals were thought to be innately endowed with their skills and social structures. That view is being transformed with a growing understanding that all animals have things to learn, and they can only learn these things from others. From research on chimpanzee cultural differences to the discovery that fruit flies learn who to mate with from observing others, animals across existing life appear to have culture.
As we find evidence of culture in animals across species, this is a good time to examine the kind of cultures animals have, and to explore the social implications of living with other cultural animals. In the behavioral biological sense of the term, “culture” refers to socially learning a behavioral tradition that is seen in some communities but not others. For anthropologists and sociologists, “culture” has different, richer meanings, as well as a problematic history. In this talk I will offer an argument in favor of animals having a type of rich culture that includes social norms. I will introduce three implications of robust animal culture: for human-wildlife conflict, multi-culturalism and cultural appropriation, and the possibility of animal cultural heritage.
Bio:
Kristin Andrews, philosopher and author, holds the York Research Chair in Animal Minds at York University (Canada) where she is Professor in the Philosophy Department, CIFAR Fellow in the Future Flourishing program, and on the board of directors for the Borneo Orangutan Society Canada. Her research combines philosophical and empirical approaches to question about animal consciousness, agency, and sociality. Her books include The Animal Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Animal Cognition, How to Study Animal Minds, Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief. She is currently writing a trade book on animal culture and multi-species norms.
