Goodall, Jane. (1990) Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. （珍古德 (1996) 《大地的窗口— 珍愛猩猩三十年》楊淑智 譯, 台北: 格林）

In Through a Window Goodall notes that the difference between humans and chimpanzees are not as great as we used to think. Chimpanzees are highly similar to humans not only in their genetic makeup but also in their behaviors and emotions. Against the views of earlier scientists, Goodall observes that chimpanzees in fact have an ability to experience emotions and feelings that is not unlike humans. She arrives at this conclusion through examining the relationship between chimpanzees that are close relatives. She observed that the chimpanzees developed human-like friendships that involved altruistic behaviors such as helping a companion in need or sometimes sharing food, among other behaviors (p.211-213). However, like humans, they also experienced intercommunity violence and even the cannibalism (p.108). Her observations led her to believe in the existence of a chimpanzee mind, or reasoning mechanism, that enables chimpanzees operate in an abstract social environment that is reflective of human society.

Jane Goodall‘s study on chimpanzees has greatly challenged the definition and status of human beings. Cultural anthropologists believe that culture is learned and shared, as opposed to being biological or individual, and chimpanzees have the ability to accumulate and share knowledge (p.5, p.19-21). This means what we understand by ‘culture’ is not exclusive to humans since important elements of it also show in groupings of chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have more than the ability to use tools, but also the capability of emotion and sensitive feeling, especially the love between a mother and her children, which makes them seem more similar to humans. Throughout the book, Goodall describes chimpanzees as having individual personalities, just as humans. No wonder she insists to use “she/he” or “who” rather than “it” or “which” to refer to chimpanzees through the book (p.15).

At the outset Goodall states that she expects that her study may “help us to understand a little better some aspects of human behavior, our own place in nature (p.10),” and indeed, she produces much reflection on human society. At first her expressed disappointment with the behavior of humans and her observation that chimpanzees are “nicer” than we are (p. 215) seemed to me too cynical and somewhat off-putting. However, her study, which began in Gombe in 1960, coincided with the run up to the Vietnam War and, during its thirty-year duration, with some of the tensest years of the Cold War. Thus she observes that humans are “capable of real cruelty” and sometimes have no awareness of the pains of the victims (p.108-9).

Although I am more positive about human society, I still agree with Jane Goodall’s opinion: through knowledge of chimpanzees there is much we can learn about ourselves. Even so, we must be cautious not to overstate our similarities or differences, for as Goodall suggests, “we [i.e., humankind] are, indeed, a complex and endlessly fascinating species (p.215).” If we are more intelligent than other species, why can human groups attack each other much more cruelly than other species? In the appendix Goodall makes an argument for the controversial notion of an “animal ethics.” While the existence of such a phenomenon may still be controversial, we cannot ignore the pain to other species which humans cause. Goodall tells a story of a chimpanzee who apparently felt pain for a man in danger and went to rescue him (p. 233-4), leading her to charge that it is “our shame” when we cannot express the same kind of empathy to other species.


Nature

詞/曲/演唱：王力宏

Nature is forever
The home for all mankind
And nature is emotion
That makes you feel alive
And time will pass
And you at last
Will live life all too fast
So slow the pace
And lift your face
And heaven will remind you

That nature is the reason
That everything is fine
But nature needs attention
We're running out of time
And soon you'll learn
That it's your turn
To take her back to you
The change must come one by one
It has to start with you

And time will pass
And you at last
Will live life all too fast
So slow the pace
And lift your face
And heaven will remind you

(choir) Nature is forever
The home for all mankind
Nature is believing
Our dreams will never die
We laugh and cry
We live our lives
And never realize
We think we know
But even so
Life around us dies
Don't let it die
You can't let it die
Please don't let it die

【備註】
1. 這篇其實一門課的作業，特別感謝Brian Cooper幫我修改文句，並提供許多想法；也特別恭喜他剛申請到很棒的學校！

2. 王力宏"Nature"這首歌是當年Jane Goodall訪台的紀念歌曲，收錄在李壽全製作《大地的窗口》（1996 福茂唱片）

3. 國際珍古德協會：The Jane Goodall Institute, Taiwan. 有空可以去逛逛！