The Biological and Social Dimensions of Human Knowledge by Jan Faye

Author:Jan Faye
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783031391378
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

Shared Intentions

We saw above that Call and Tomasello had no problem in ascribing intentions to chimpanzees and even an ability to recognize other chimpanzees’ intentions. But Tomasello refuses to accept that they are able to share common intentions and therefore that they can cooperate. Instead, he holds that “Based on much research reported here, the critical difference now seems to be that humans not only understand others as intentional agents but also put their heads together with others in acts of shared intentionality, including everything from concrete acts of collaborative problem solving to complex cultural institutions.”31 Others interpret the data differently, and some even claim that the comparative studies between chimpanzee and children sometimes relied on incomparable set-ups that make any assessment misleading.32

A position similar to the one Tomasello holds can be found among some linguists. The two Danish linguists, Peter Harder and Peter Widell, argue that the crucial leap to linguistic meaning does not come via increased experiential content, but via the social contract established around meanings and exchange of meaning.33 They believe that the willingness to cooperate and the interest in sharing the world of thought is a key prerequisite for language. In non-human nature, it does not make sense to act declaratively because there is no interest in sharing thoughts—just as animals have little interest in sharing food.

I am skeptical of this negative view of animal cooperation. As far as I understand, there is little evidence for such a bold claim. Among bonobos and chimpanzees, scientists have found many examples of cooperation and shared intentions. Of course, private intentions, knowledge and goals among non-human animals are communicated from one individual to another not by language, but by various sounds, bodily gestures and other behavioral signs.34 Gradually, individuals became able to learn to align their interests for the common good and communicate their intentions back to the others. Not only do I think that the observed behavior among some animals might be interpreted as examples of shared intentions, I really believe that this is the best explanation as far as it is simpler and more in the line with an evolution without discontinuity between human and non-human animals.

Scientists have reported coordinated actions and cooperation among, say, chimpanzees, orcas, humpback whales, and ravens. Chimpanzees participate in highly coordinated battues on colobus monkeys in which they take on different roles. Afterwards only those who participated in the ambush share the game, while the highest ranked members of the troop have to wait if some parts are leftovers.35 Orcas have learned to help one another in creating a unison wave to wash a seal off an ice floe.36 A small group of humpback whale hunting a school of fish coordinate their behavior as the leading whale blows a bubble net that encircles the fish, while the other whales from beneath within this rather small circle force the fish to the surface, where all the whales are able to catch them with their giant mouths.37 Likewise, it has been reported that a

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