Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Joseph Cimino" <evopsych AT hotmail.com>]

Many animals play. Especially chimps. They play a lot, and they're arguably the most intelligent non-human animals. And when they do play, it looks a lot like fighting, but its not. In the example of play, "fighting" is not fighting, but the opposite. The chimps understand that their actions, while seemingly violent, are actually affectionate. Isn't that enough symbolism to constitute consciousness - a "knowing" of a "world" in which they created through they're symbolic play-fight?

And if these chimps are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, and we have language, and the they do not, then might play be a precursor to language? Or, perhaps even an example of language?

Joe C.

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