The Arrogant Ape
The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters
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- 12,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
A New York Times’s Notable Book of 2025
An impassioned celebration of humility before the living world that leads us to a new understanding of other species—and ourselves
Darwin considered humans one part of the web of life, not the apex of a natural hierarchy. Yet today many maintain that we are the most intelligent, virtuous, successful species that ever lived. This flawed thinking enables us to exploit the earth towards our own exclusive ends, throwing us into a perilous planetary imbalance. But is this view and way of life inevitable? The Arrogant Ape shows that human exceptionalism is an ideology that relies more on human culture than our biology, more on delusion and faith than on evidence.
Harvard primatologist Christine Webb has spent years researching the rich social, emotional, and cognitive lives of our closest living relatives. She exposes the ways that many scientific studies are biased against other species and reveals underappreciated complexities of nonhuman life—from the language of songbirds and prairie dogs, to the cultures of chimpanzees and reef fishes, to the acumen of plants and fungi. With compelling stories and fresh research she gives us a paradigm-shifting way of looking at other organisms on their own terms, one that is revolutionizing our perception both of them and of ourselves.
Critiques of human exceptionalism tend to focus on our moral obligation towards other species. They overlook what humanity also stands to gain by dismantling its illusions of uniqueness and superiority. This shift in perspective fills us with a sense of awe and satisfies one of our oldest and deepest desires to belong to the larger whole we inhabit. What’s at stake is a better, sustainable way of life with the potential to heal and rejuvenate our shared planet.
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Harvard primatologist Webb debuts with a persuasive and accessible critique of anthropocentrism, which she describes as a Western ideology that erroneously depicts humans as "the most clever, moral, and capable species on earth." She shares moving anecdotes from her fieldwork—where she has witnessed chimpanzees conveying trust and consoling each other when grieving—to demonstrate that humans aren't the only beings who exhibit altruistic behavior, and explains that the idea that humans are cognitively superior is based on experiments skewed to favor humans; when comparing chimpanzees caged in human-made conditions to free people, chimps inevitably come up short. Webb argues that human exceptionalism is driving the present-day ecological crisis and that a less human-centric approach to understanding the world is necessary for "a richer, sustainable way of life." She urges humans to relinquish their self-inflated top-dog status and recognize the symbiosis among organisms—like how plants produce oxygen humans need to breathe—that has made possible "most major events in the history of life on earth." As global warming and wildlife destruction threaten planetary health, Webb makes a convincing case for humility. Though not as lyrical as Robin Wall Kimmerer or hard-hitting as Lynn Margulis—scientists with whom she shares many views—Webb joins their ranks with this vivid call to action.
