New Evidence of Culture in Wild Chimpanzees

Reading this brief article, it strikes me how far "civilization" has moved in its understanding of "culture" from our ancient roots in Greek civilization to where we currently are. In ancient times culture had everything to do with the conscious pursuit of excellence for the sort of thing that one is. The cultivated person, the cultured person, was that person of high moral excellence. When, however, one lives in a materialistic and relativistic world such notions seem, at best, a bit charming and woefully old fashion and "out of it." Now we see, " "Culture" in this sense refers to a population-specific set of behaviors acquired through social learning, such as imitation, ..." Ring the winner's bell for Skinner and those following after him.

Frank Harrison of GA 9:45PM October 26, 2009