Exploring human uniqueness: animal behaviour research at its best (and worst)

• Department of History

The History of Science and Medicine working group hosts a presentation and discussion with Emile Bryon (Utrecht University) on a project on chimpanzees' cumulative culture.

The rather recent research field of animal behaviour has brought valuable knowledge and questions on the human species' place within the continuum of living species and what sets us apart from others. It has also produced harmful normative policies: one of its founding fathers, Konrad Lorenz, was a devoted advocate of eugenics. This conflicting history reflects the sensitive nature of the topics at hand; at once crucial to the understanding of our nature, but also prone to being leveraged for dubious ends. It is thus no small task to enquire about the origins of culture, which is often deemed to be a unique human characteristic. But what is culture, and how can learning about its expression in other species bring us valuable knowledge on who we are, and how we ought to be?

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