( 1 reviews )
-
( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 4 2007
I really enjoyed the overview of work done in the complementary fields of anthropology and primatology. But as the book closes, and as the discussion turns to epistemology, I was disappointed to find Hilary Putnam's stamp on the entire book. On page 190 (paperback), Corbey quotes Putnam-- " 'Objects' do not exist independendently of concceptual schemes. WE cut up the world into objects when we introduce one or another scheme of descriptions. Since the objects AND the signs are alike internal to the scheme of description, it is possible to say what matches what." (Putnam 1981: 52) How this is relevant to apes, which appear to be able to survive without benefit of constructivist epistemology, escapes me. The book may as well have been about philosophers, instead of apes, in terms of its metaphysics. Still, it is a very good treatment of the wide variety of anthropological and primatological studies that have been accopmplished. And the bibliography is very much worth having availiable for future reference.
