What's in a name?
When it is consciously evoked such things as identity, relationship, place, and possibly even sentience.
Who we are is defined not just by our sense of self. It's a function of how we are known by others and how we come to identify ourselves - our place - within the networks of others with whom we live. This is why some recent research data about dolphins is so interesting.
The new research expands on previous knowledge long known to scientists that dolphins' whistle calls include repeated information thought to be their names. CNN reports that the new research indicates that "bottlenose dolphins can call each other by name when they whistle, making them the only animals besides humans known to recognize such identity information." Even more compelling, Laela Sayigh, one of three authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that two dolphins may refer to a third by the third animal's name. They know themselves, they know their place in the relationship network of which they are a member. We are not the only self-aware animals on the planet. Similar information has long been known of primates - although not to this extent. Some chimps have learned very extensive vocabularies and can communicate quite consciously with humans using hand signals. The ability of another species to consciously reference another within the context of self is critically important to us as a species.
Our ideals as a species are too often predicated on an assumption that we are the uber species on the planet. We view the world through this filter of dominance and infallablity. We act on the environment with impunity, we interact with other species as if our lives were the only lives that mattered. It is worth considering that any particular culture can only be understood by someone outside of it - a neutral observer, unaffected by prejudice or belief. In a wonderful book I read years ago (Ishmael by Daniel Quinn), the reader is able to see our culture through the eyes of just such an observer. In order to be sustainable my ideals - our ideals - need to be seen through many eyes. What's in a name? Perhaps our future.
Nice little site here. Check out http://www.freelance-starter.com for a free newsletter. Ha, sorry for the plug.
Posted by: Bill | October 21, 2006 at 06:45 PM