I don't think in biology it's very controversial at all. Whether certain behavior is culture or is not culture is argued. I think virtually all biologists would agree that some animal behavior is culture. Bird song is a good example. — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Studying the behavior of large whales has been likened to astronomy. The observer glimpses his subjects, often at long range; he cannot do experiments,… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
But one thing that seems pretty clear when we look at human religion is that it's highly tied in with human culture. So if,… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
We believe we're seeing, in other animals, a process, or an attribute, that isn't fundamentally different from what we see in humans, so it… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Whales are cultural animals, and we're cultural animals, so although we shouldn't expect whales to do what we do, it doesn't seem unreasonable to… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
What I mean by it, and roughly what most biologists who talk about culture mean by it, is either behavior itself, or information that… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Culture is not usually one of the criterion for personhood, but it has been argued that culture is sort of a medium for a… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Conversation with animals could happen, but I think it would be easier for it to happen with creatures we share a bit more with… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Religion's pretty pervasive in humans. And why it's pervasive in humans is debated a lot. There are indications of things that look like religion… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Humans are particularly interesting; our culture is incredible, there's no doubt about that. In many respects, no other species matches ours. But in quite… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
The real controversy comes with anthropologists - not all, but some - who see themselves as studying culture, and they then see culture from… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
I was very lucky. I was just finishing my PhD at Cambridge in 1981. This opportunity came up because whaling was drawing to an… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
I don't like to be dismissive of whales speaking possibilities. There is a pretty New Age-y, poorly thought set of ideas about this going… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
