Although the idea that dogs may have adopted (or "tamed") humans rather than the other way around is an intriguing idea, what we were all reacting to (I think) was the smug (and dated!) anti-anthropomorphicism of passages like this:
We are, as the animal behaviorist John S.
Kennedy called us, "compulsive" anthropomorphizers -- always on
the lookout for behaviors that mimic, even superficially, human
social phenomena such as loyalty, betrayal, reciprocity....
Our cognitive ability to ascribe motives to others is a large part of what makes us human. But it truly is compulsive...We are
primed to seize on what are, in truth, fundamental, programmed
behaviors in dogs and read into them extravagant tales of love and
fidelity...Blah, blah, blah, blah, yada-yada-yada-yada....
As for coevolution, it makes sense. And it does not require a belief that dogs are capable only of "programmed behaviors."
Joan |
