El manejo de instrumentos entre los primates: ¿Conducta social o un rasgo cultural?

Resumen

The of instruments among primates: social conduct or cultural feature?

It is discussed here whether tool-use among primates—mainly chimpanzees—is an expression of social behavior or a cultural feature. It is noted that some ambiguities surrounding the notions of what is “social” or “cultural” have generated confusions when researchers try to identify primate behavior as one or the other. Some characterizations of the social—i.e., Wilson, Wallace, Giddens, Bourdieu—and cultural dominions—i.e., Geertz, Bruner— are reviewed and it is suggested that they can be ordered on a continuum, from elementary social behaviors, on one side, to more complex human actions, on the other. It is proposed that the latter are primordially intentional or symbolic actions. It is argued that if we define the social dominion according to characterizations such as that of Wilson or Wallace, then tool-use among chimpanzees is evidently social, but not necessarily cultural, at least not in a symbolic sense. If, rather, we adopt an approach close to Giddens or Bourdieu in sociology, Geertz in Anthropology, or Bruner in Psychology, tool-use could be seen as an amazing chimpanzee ability but below, however, a full cultural competence. It is concluded that chimpanzees raised in human-like environments show incipient cultural features, but show significant deficiencies when compared to human’s capacities. It is suggested a constrained use of the term “cultural” as exclusively human.

Key words: Tool-use, culture, primate culture, animal societies, learning strategies, symbolic wold, conventional meaning, lenguage, intentionality.