The national character of apes
From Bertrand Russell 1927, speaking about American and German primate research, quoted in Owen Flanagan’s “The Science of the Mind”:
One may say broadly that all the animals that have been carefully observed have behaved so as to confirm the philosophy in which the observer believed before his observations began. Nay, more, they have all displayed the national characteristics of the observer. Animals studied by Americans rush about frantically, with an incredible display of hustle and pep, and at last achieve the desired result by chance. Animals observed by Germans sit still and think, and at last evolve the solution out of their inner consciousness. To the plain man such as the present writer, this situation is discouraging.
Nov 23, 04:29 pm | quotes |