Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Blog Post #1

I found last class' discussion quite interesting. I never really pondered the idea as to why composition and language are so important to our society. The idea that humans are not cannibalistic never really crosses your mind. However, when observing our closest relative, the chimpanzee, you can’t help but wonder why we did not turn out a cannibalistic species. It is easy to say that because we are a compassionate species that possess morals we have strayed away from the cannibalistic path. However, when given the example of Dolphins killing babies one must wonder is our compassion truly the reason? I remember watching a documentary about Dolphins. They were compared to humans because it was discovered they possess the same area of the brain, as humans do, that sparks compassion. Yet, how are Dolphins still able to kill babies for survival if they are compassionate? Perhaps the answer is that we have language. We are able to communicate feelings to each other about certain issues. If one of us look down upon cannibalism and we communicate that to someone else we are able to sway them to the same opinion. Composition might also help with this. Many compositions can sway people’s opinions on certain matters. Our ability to communicate with each other could possible be why we stray away from cannibalism instead of inheriting it from our relatives the chimpanzees. It is interesting to see the importance behind language and composition through this topic.
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3 comments:

  1. Allergic to SittingJanuary 14, 2009 at 8:05 PM

    As we'll see with Sacks, I think "language" is too broad a term. Dolphins communicate, so there has to be something more than just language, though it is up for grabs as to what that something is.

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  2. MaddyJanuary 19, 2009 at 5:24 PM

    I think that you made some interesting points regarding language and composition and the ability humans have of swaying another through these two things. I also agree with you that it is interesting to think about our close relatives the chimps and think about why we ourselves are not canibalistic.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2009 at 7:16 AM

    I agree with everything you are saying, but with the dolphins I have wondered if they were killing their young because they loved them….The story I read about this said that it happened when there was a shortage of food, or over populated area of dolphins, what if the mother was trying to prevent her young from suffering for a long time?

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