Arrogant! Who? Us (humans)? Never!
Christine
Webb, in The Arrogant Ape,1 claims that we (Homo sapiens)
are indeed arrogant, and this is based on our (often unstated and hidden)
belief in human exceptionalism. On page 3 of her book, Webb clearly expresses
the tenet of her book. It is ‘that human exceptionalism – a.k.a.
anthropocentricism or human supremacy – is at the root of the ecological
crisis.’
That is a provocative
assertion, yet Webb tackles it with rigour, extensive research, and often with
wit and humour.
On the
very first page of the book, Webb notes that ‘we’re not the biggest,
fastest, or strongest’ beings on the planet. She has countless stories and
evidence to back this up. We are not exceptional! We are arrogant to think that
we are. In thinking that we are exceptional we have exploited, damaged, and
plundered the earth and all her creatures so much that now we, ourselves, are also
being harmed. Polluted water, noxious air, climate change, poisoned food
sources, and more are all impacting our well-being.
This is no
surprise says Webb. It is the natural (sic) outcome of our belief in our
supremacy.
Before
continuing it is worth pointing out that Webb recognises and acknowledges that
not all peoples and cultures of the world share the belief in human
exceptionalism. Sadly, however, the culture from within which human
exceptionalism arose, has come to dominate the entire world. Additionally, Webb
recognises that within this (westernised) culture the drivers of this belief
have ‘…long been the dogma of a dominant minority.’
If those
of us outside of this dominant minority have been afflicted by the
belief in human exceptionalism and internalised it as our own, then The
Arrogant Ape is surely one of the best books available to disavow us of
this mistaken view. Drawing from her own research and that of many others in
her field of primatology, Webb introduces us to many long-held beliefs that once
were thought to pertain to humans only, including inter alia, the manufacture
and use of tools, language, empathy, and possibly most controversial of all,
that of consciousness.
Webb
traverses the subject of consciousness from many angles and admits that there
remains a lot of dispute and conjecture. Could it be that the belief in human
exceptionalism is the reason for doubting, or even refuting, the possibility of
consciousness in other-than-human animals? Webb adroitly concludes by asking, ‘Why
should we doubt, downplay, or deny something in other species that we barely
understand in ourselves?’
One
aspect of Webb’s writing that I appreciated was being introduced to a number of
concepts I had not previously come across. Many of these concepts are
compressed into just one or two words. I will mention just four of them here:
The
first word is quite a mouthful – anthropofabulation. Webb does not say
where this word originated, but personal research suggests that you won’t find
it listed in any dictionary published prior to 2013. Anthropofabulation Webb
defines as the ‘tendency to define certain psychological processes by an
exaggerated account of typical human performance in order to deny them to other
species.’ We humans, via this approach, define standard psychology from a
human standpoint, and then measure and judge all other species according to
that standard. The flaw in this reasoning should be apparent, yet it is only
recently recognised. Thank you, Christine Webb, for pointing out what is right
in front of our noses.
The
second word from The Arrogant Ape that I have chosen to highlight is a
corollary to the belief in human exceptionalism. Human exemptionalism
asserts that humans are exempt from the constraints, limits, and boundaries
of nature. Our belief in human exceptionalism drives this belief, and
results in crazy techno-fixes and other overly optimistic and cornucopian ideas,
such as colonising Mars, or placing giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight
away from the earth (known as Solar Radiation Modification – SRM).
Christine
Webb, as we might guess, is not a fan of SRM and warns us that ‘…solar
geoengineering exacerbates human dominance over Nature precisely when we
urgently need to curtail it.’ It is a warning that needs heeding.
The
next word is Umwelt. This word and concept, Webb tells us, was coined in
the early 1900s by the German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. Umwelt is the
world as experienced by a particular organism. For each organism the umwelt
is different. I was reminded of the concept of multiverses. Organisms
experience the world (whether through sight, hearing, smell, touch, echo-radar,
or other non-human sense) in such hugely different ways that we could say that
the single world we think it is, is in fact, a plurality of worlds that
different creatures experience. Thus ultimately no single world exists, but
rather multi-worlds all here on Earth.
The
final word I have chosen to highlight is Involution, a term proposed by
two anthropologists, Carla Hustak and Natasha Myers. Involution is the
flipside of evolution (which literally means to roll outwards), whereas involution
means to roll, or curl, inwards. The term recognises how all species
intertwine and that symbiosis and co-emergence are important aspects of
evolution and the inter-dependence of all phenomena.
Four
words, with four profound concepts embedded within them. Two of them indicate how
human exceptionalism in the arrogant ape limits our understanding of the
complexity and wholeness of the world as well as compelling us towards foolish
endeavours. The other two offer us means by which we might better understand
the world we are a part of and our unique, but not exceptional, role in it.
The
Arrogant Ape is a
valuable contribution to not only the environmental movement, but also to understanding
our collective psychology. The two are linked, and Webb makes this clear close
to the end of her book. She quotes Einstein’s reply2 when asked what
he would do if he had one hour to save the world, and then follows that reply
with this crucial observation:
‘…grappling with the ecological
crisis means dismantling not only systems of exploitation and destruction but
also the very worldview that makes them possible.’
The
Arrogant Ape helps
us to recognise the worldview and thus how we can begin dismantling it.
Notes:
1. Christine
Webb, The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters,
Avery, New York, 2025
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