[lit-ideas] Re: Altruism and Egoism: A Griceian Perspective
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 May 2014 10:11:09 -0400 (EDT)
Or how pirots karulise elatically (some simpler ways): or baboons behave
altruistically.
Grice on pirots, homo sapiens sapiens, and baboons.
In a message dated 5/27/2014 9:47:13 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes in "The earliest requirement for religion":
described someplace else someone who observed the behavior of baboons, of
two adult males who gave their lives so that the rest of the tribe could
make it safely to a baboon haven. This morning it came to me that the person
who made that observation was (probably) Raymond Dart. I still can’t find
the reference, but if my aged memory is somewhat accurate, he was severely
disillusioned after World War One and sought some place to “hide” from
what had happened, choosing Africa. But having an active mind he began
investigating his surroundings and especially a tribe of baboons whose route
passed by his cabin (or it could have been that his wanderings passed by their
wanderings). In any case he observed the baboon tribe heading later than
usual (when it was nearly dark) up a narrow decline toward their defensible
sanctuary, but their nemesis, the panther was in position to kill one or
two (do they wantonly kill more than that? I don’t know). Instead two adult
males attacked the panther, killing it, and giving up their lives in the
process.
Dart had the misfortune to discover the first evidence that the
predecessors of homo sapiens originated in Africa rather than Europe; so he
was
declared a crackpot. Of course everyone knows today that he was right, but
getting rid of the “crackpot” stigma is not an easy matter.
And, we see in the actions of these baboons (whether it was Raymond Dart
who made that observation or some other) the religious principle “greater
love hath no man than that he would lay down his life for a friend.”
But cfr. Ardrey:
New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the Post-Freudian ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0976040212 - Traduci questa pagina
Colin Wilson - 2004 - Psychology
In African Genesis, Robert Ardrey describes the behaviour of a tribe of
baboons threatened by a leopard. The leopard appeared on a rock overlooking
the fig tree where the baboons slept and stood ... This sounds like supreme
self sacrifice.
Worth checking out.
Cheers,
Speranza
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