Victor
> ^^^^
> CB: Here we see why the transgenerational transmission of how to
make and use tools is the key type of social connection defining humans.
There are studies showing that chimps , on their own , int the wild, make
and use tools, such as sticks to dig in ant hills. But they don't pass on
to the next generation how to do it.
But they do or at least the women do:
-clip-
Actually, we've known for a long time that social groups of monkeys
and apes develop special cultural traits that are intergenerational for the
group and distinctive from those of other groups. This was first noticed by
Japanese researchers into the behaviour of different groups of Japanese
Macaques.
Some groups wash their food others don't, some bath in the hot
spring waters while others don't enter the water at all and so on. Since
then animal ethologists in Africa and Asia have been mapping the "cultural
traditions" of our anthropoid brothers.
Clearly, monkeys and apes do have "cultural traditions" that are
passed between generations, but it is much less sure that these traditions
are anything more than particular features of an otherwise "non-cultural"
array of practices. What distinguishes human culture from that of other
creatures is its universality, i.e. man's absolute dependence on culture to
learn how to behave at all.
^^^^^
CB: Yes, however, what apes and monkeys have is "monkey see monkey do"
traditions, i.e. imitation. They don't have culture, because they don't have
symbolling or _ideality_ . They are limited in what can be passed on to new
generations by what can be taught through imitation. The distinguishing
characteristic of humans is ideality which allows a qualitatively different
passage of experiences between generations.
^^^^^^
In truth, we should expect that ideality (and tool making) would
appear
historically, first, as a particularity, an abstracted individual
feature of
the universal life activity that preceeded it, rather than as a
full-blown
universal as it is for modern humans. In principle, the development
of a
universal such as social labour, tool making and commodity
production should
first appear as an individual case, become a particular class of
phenomena
as it expands beyond the individual case (as it does for learned
termite
fishing among chimpanzees) and only become a universal when it
becomes the
way things are done by everyone.
> Ideality is necessary for this transgenerational transmission to
become as
> efficient and extensive as it has among humans.
>
> Thus , "imagination" ( ideality) , planning, focus for days,
weeks, years
> at
> a time on the same goal and purpose, all based on ideality and
> imagination,
> are the distinguishing characteristics of human labor, not tool
use.
>
> On the other hand, the individual hunter or laborer's imagination
and
> ideality contains so much information because many others are able
to
> "put"
> info into the "system" or ideological system or cultural tradition
that
> makes that imagination.
>
> Notice for example, that the significance of upright posture for
hunting
> is
> not only , as Engels refers to, the freeing of the hands for tool
and
> weapon
> making and use. Ancient humans defeated their prey by long
distance
> running.
> Upright posture slowed humans down so that in a short sprint, they
didn't
> catch the faster prey, but they would trek the prey down with long
> distance
> running. This requires longer focus of attention, planning than
quick
> instinctive attacks. The legs are as significant as the hands in
the
> original human labors.
>
> The cooperation among those in the living generation, among the
living, is
> also potentially enhanced by ideality.
>
> Of course, after the rise of class exploitative society, ideality
becomes
> the basis for more anti-cooperation among humans than among
chimps.
> Ideality
> turns into its opposite with the rise of class divided society. In
> particular, predominantly physical labor is antagonized to
predominantly
> idealist labor, and the repressive career of the ideal is begun.
>
>
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