Are you my cousin?

摘要

"A human is not like an artichoke, in which the prickly leaves of culture can be peeled away, leaving only the exposed tender heart of the 'natural man'," writes Jonathan Marks in his grumpy attack on those who see a close alliance between chimps and humans. They are separate, says Marks. Culture is the difference. "If the human is like a cake, culture is like the eggs, not like the icing- it is an inseparable part, not a superficial glaze." That is the mark of humankind and it is, he believes, quite enough to separate us from the other apes.