I‘m loving how Greenblatt is exploring the storytelling aspect of humanity. He said that gazelles and ghimpanzees don‘t tell each other stories for the fun of it, they don‘t wonder what makes them gazelles or chimpanzees, or why they are they way they are. This is something unique to humans. No other animal on the planet tells stories but us.
#stevengreenblatt #adamandeve #storytelling
readinginthedark That we know of! 🤔 5y
GingerAntics @readinginthedark true. There is always that whole “we don‘t understand their communication” thing. It is possible. Although, that takes away some of the excitement from his thesis a bit. The book is still good without that bit. I‘m pretty sure they‘re not worried about their lack of clothing, though. 5y
readinginthedark Yeah, I definitely don't think it's to the level that we tell stories or we would have noticed, but I do wonder sometimes with animals that don't have a built-in, "this is what you should be afraid of" system. You know: does everything have to be learned by physically witnessing tragedy, or can it be told? Are some of those elaborate dances and swimming patterns for telling stories rather than just mating and protection? 5y
GingerAntics @readinginthedark right? We don‘t know what they‘re doing. Some animals are known to have elaborate language systems, so they easily could be telling stories. No, they‘re obviously not writing books and stuff, but still. (edited) 5y
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