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The highly-regarded anthropologist Terrence Deacon, who studies the evolution of humans’ language and symbolic capacity, among other things, once said at a conference at Binghamton University “Humans are a species of African ape, but they also deserve their own phylum.” This blog is a first meditation on what Deacon said.
Let’s have Deacon’s unexpected and insightful quote in italics: Humans are a species of African ape, but they also deserve their own phylum.
So, what does it mean? Well, in context, it meant that biologists classify humans as:
Species: H. sapiens;
Genus: Homo;
Family: Hominidae;
Order: Primates;
Class: Mammalia;
Phylum: Chordata;
Kingdom: Animalia,
and detailed fossil and DNA studies of this species clearly shows that it (we) evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago and it is (we are) a type of African ape. But, regardless of what the biologists say, humans are not best thought of as a species of African ape, but rather as something utterly new, sui generis — humans are an excellent beauty . . . appropriate, given this blog.
Scientists since at least Darwin have worked hard to show how similar humans are to other animals. The well-known primatologist, Frans de Waal, has said, for example, “We are apes in every way, from our long arms and tailless bodies to our habits and temperament.”* But Deacon was at pains to highlight how utterly different we are from other animals, including apes — not in a religious way, but in a real way. We share somewhere between 96% and 99% of our DNA with chimps (different experts differ some). Chimps (an ape) are more closely related to us than they are to gorillas (also an ape). Stunning facts.
Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that on a clear night in central Africa, a thoughtful chimp gazes up at the full moon and wonders what it would take to travel to it. Most likely, though we don’t know of course, chimps regard the night moon as a variable light in the sky. However, we have been there — several times. We worked out the physics of the moon’s orbit. We’ve put robots on Mars, on Titan, we’ve sent probes flying past Pluto, and we have sent the Voyager 1 deep into space beyond our solar system; it is now in interstellar space, at a distance of 2 x 1010 kilometers from Earth, and it is still working. And that’s just for starters! So, we are clearly not chimps. Just like we are clearly not turtles. So what are we? Well, there’s nothing like us on planet Earth, not whales, not dolphins, not parrots. We, and we alone, use symbols. It is such a unique thing to do, we should receive a phylum of our own — Symbolata, perhaps.
Of course many African apes of the H. sapiens variety, especially in the U.S. and other religiously dominated countries deny that they are, biologically, Africa apes. They think, not that we should receive our own phylum, because that is just the devil’s science, but that we should be classified as spiritual beings because we were created by a god to rule Earth. Meditating on this, we see that humans believe and act on many many different things. Their beliefs constitute their reality, influencing what they perceive, what they are certain of, and what they will sacrifice for. Given the power of their beliefs, we shouldn’t even call them “beliefs,” they are clearly knowledges. Using knowledges as our typing mechanism, this leads to the question: “How many species are there in Symbolata?” Or, our original question: “How many species of H. sapiens are there?”
Here is where a better name for our new phylum will be useful: Proteanata — The changeable animals. Because of our use of symbols, humans come in a bewildering variety of types, inhabiting a variety of realities (vaguely similar to what the biologists call niches). Furthermore, a single human can simultaneous belong to many types, sometimes for short periods of time and sometimes for very long periods of time. And during any given single revolution of Earth on its axis, the types of Proteanata that there are changes significantly.
Here’s a brief illustration. There are species of Proteanata who know that evolution didn’t occur, and there is no evidence for evolution. There are those who know that it did occur because the evidence is overwhelming. There are those who know that it did occur, but with some god’s help. There are those who know that it didn’t occur, and all the evidence there is for it is secretly planted by the devil. There are those who know that whether we evolved or not cannot be known. There are those who know that it doesn’t matter whether we evolved or not, nor does it matter whether we know we did or not. And “finally,” there are those who never heard of evolution at all. That’s a lot of types. The “finally” is in scare quotes because it is clear that this list of types is only partial.
Furthermore, those who know that evolution didn’t occur themselves come in a large variety of types: fundamentalist members of every religion, agnostics, weekend believers, atheists (weird, but true: certain believers in UFOs go in this category), etc.
Why did I italicize the word “know” above? Because the different species of Proteanata do not merely believe different things. They know different facts. They are absolutely certain that what they believe is the truth — they are certain they are in touch with facts. Yes, I’m saying that the facts change relative to the different knowers of Proteanata. So, that evolution didn’t happen is a fact, that it did is also a fact, that there is no evidence for it is a fact, that there is is a fact. And on and on and on . . .
No doubt the Psychology Today blog reader is jumping up and down insisting that there is only 1 fact about evolution — evolution is studied by science and so is objectively real. But this marks the reader as just another member of Proteanata because there are members of this phylum who are jumping up and down insisting that there is only 1 fact about evolution — evolution is denied by the (e.g.,) the Christian bible, and so is objectively false. That it is studied by science (biology) merely means that there’s no such thing as biology (some Proteanata hold that there is no such thing as science).
Another topical illustration is the Republican candidacy of Donald Trump for U.S. president. I personally know people who intend to vote for him, and who, furthermore, see him (or his candidacy, in milder cases) as the savior of the U.S. I also know others who regard Mr. Trump as the anti-Christ. And there are many types in-between.
A final, third illustration comes from the Christian bible. In his letter to the Philippians (Philippians 4:8), Paul of Tarsus writes: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.” Is there any doubt in the reader’s mind that every single human on Earth could do what Paul suggests, and yet nothing at all would change? The many species of H. sapiens — the Proteanata — all have different definitions of “true,” “noble,” “right,” “pure,” “lovely,” “admirable,” “excellent,” “praiseworthy.” Consequently, acts as different as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and those of the rescue personnel who rushed to save the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are equally considered true, noble, right, etc. Furthermore, the attacks of 9-11 are known to be true, right, etc., just as rescuing their victims is known to be true, right, etc.
So, the distinguishing feature of Proteanata is their vast array of knowledges. We finally realize that there are knowledges, not just knowledge, as the philosophers have tried to insist on (I’m thinking of the greats: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, etc. etc. on up to the early 21st century philosophers — all of whom disagreed with each other on the crucial technical details). So the philosophers were/are wrong. But of course, this is merely my knowledge. Your knowledge may vary.
The cognoscente hold that different cultures are sources of different beliefs all of which we have to take seriously. In some cultures, suicide for a cause is lauded, in others it is not. Some cultures have queens, others do not. Some embrace technology, others do not. But this trendy view is not even close to the truth (Ha!).
Here in the 21st century, we have learned that truth varies far more robustly that merely from culture to culture; it varies from human to human, and within a single human, it varies from time to time. Makes one wonder what a human is. And the holding of a truth is, as it has always been, connecting one to knowledge. So for Proteanata, there are knowledges, not merely knowledge.
We are staring virulent relativism in the face. Now what do we do?
* For the de Waal quote, see http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0831_050831_chimp_genes….
