3.1 We are social animals

Victor of Aveyron

There are cases of children lost in the forest that have miraculously survived by themselves. There are also cases of babies and children abducted and raised by monkeys in the jungle. Later on, when these children grow up and make contact with other human beings, their integration into human society is very difficult, nearly impossible.

One of those cases was "Victor of Aveyron". Victor is estimated to have been born around 1788. It is not known when or how he came to live in the woods in the region of Aveyron, though he was reportedly seen there around 1794. In 1797 he was spotted by three hunters; he ran from them but they were able to catch him when he tried to climb a tree. They brought him to a nearby town where he was cared for by a widow. However, he soon escaped and returned to the woods; he was periodically spotted in 1798 and 1799.

On January 8, 1800, he emerged from the forests on his own. His age was unknown, but citizens of the village estimated his age to be about twelve. His lack of speech, as well as his food preferences and the numerous scars on his body, suggested to some that he had been in the wild for most of his life.

Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, a young medical student, effectively adopted Victor into his home and published reports on his progress. Itard believed two things separated humans from animals: empathy and language. He wanted to civilize Victor with the objectives of teaching him to speak and to communicate human emotion. Victor showed significant early progress in understanding language and reading simple words, but failed to progress beyond a rudimentary level.

While Victor did not learn to speak the language that Itard tried to teach him, it seems that Victor did make progress in his behavior towards other people. At the Itard home, housekeeper Madame Guérin was setting the table one evening while crying over the loss of her husband. Victor stopped what he was doing and displayed consoling behavior towards her. Itard reported on this progress.

Victor died of pneumonia in Paris in 1828 in the home of Madame Guérin.

(Extracted from Wikipedia)

- Why do you think that Victor was unable to speak fluently despite the efforts of his teacher?
- Why do you think that Victor was unable to integrate himself into society despite the efforts of the housekeeper and his teacher?
- Do you think that Victor was happy when he lived alone in the forest? Or was he happier when he lived with other people?

Exercise 1.1

Make a list of five activities you do daily. For each one of them, answer the following questions:

- Did you learn to do it by yourself or did you learn it from other people?
- Would you keep on doing it if you lived alone in the forest?

Exercise 1.2

Compare the real story of Victor of Aveyron with fictional stories such as Tarzan or The Book of the Jungle.

The story of Victor of Aveyron teaches us that we need other people in order to became full human beings. Without the love and guidance of our families, friends and other people, we would never become the persons we are today. If we were left alone when we were two or three years old, we would most probably die. And if we survived, we would become a very different kind of persons than we are today.

For this reason, we say that human beings are social animals. We need to grow in a family and we need to live in a society in order to become fully humans. When we are children, we need other people for surviving and for learning the most important things in our lifes: our mother tongue and our affections. When we grow up, perhaps we may survive by ourselves, but none wants to live alone the rest of its life. Every lost person has a goal: to return to society.

Exercise 1.3

Human beings are not the only social animals.

Bees, ants, wolves and monkeys are, among others, social animals. They also live their lifes with other members of their own species. In contrast, spiders, tigers or eagles live most of their lifes alone.

Find similarities and differences between human societies and the societies formed by bees and ants living in beehives and anthills. Look for similarities and differences in aspects such as communication, education, government, etc.

Nature and culture

Human beings are, by nature, social animals. This means that we are born with certain capabilities for living in a society. Among those innate capabilities are the following:

- Language: we are born with the capability of learning a language. This is essential for communicating with other people. However, in order to fully develop our language, it is also essential that we hear other people speaking. So, language is a mixture of instinct and learning.
- Emotions: we are born with a small number of basic emotions. They are essential for creating bonds with other people and for creating more complex feelings. Like language, our emotional capability only develops fully when other people show and give us affection.
- Intelligence: we are born with the capability of learning from others and for contributing to the advance of our society. Again, our intelligence greatly benefits from the interaction with other people: games and education are both essential for developing our intelligence.

Thanks to language, emotions and intelligence, we can communicate, cooperate and develop our talents to their full potential.

- Human nature: all the capabilities and features we are born with. Our main body features such as the number of arms and legs, our capability of breathing air and walking upright are all part of our human nature.
- Human culture: all the capabilities and features that we learn through our lifes. The way we talk, dress and have fun. What we eat, how and when we eat. Our profession, our beliefs and habits.

Exercise 1.4

Classify the following sentences as describing our nature or our culture:

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