Lincoln Logs
By Dustin Hickok
Introduction
The world has become so benign to their instilled perceptions, yet obstinate to the changing world of reality. From the cloud gazing day dreamer, the rigid business entrepreneur, to the Pokémon obsessed child that spends hours every day learning the hundreds of animated creatures (Yoon, 2009, p.165), the umwelt, the world as experienced by an organism, correspondingly exists. Perhaps it is simply part of humanity to question the unknown and associate the surrounding world into categories. What is fact, knowledge, and what is truth? These terms intermingle as if dancing in a tango, and become nearly indistinguishable.
Perception is the underlying factor that drives the umwelt and how we perceive our changing world creates our “objective reality” (Yoon, C. 2009, p. 111). In her book Naming Nature, Carol Kaesuk Yoon (2009) argues the clash between systems of classifications in terms of instinct and science, the then to the now, and the persistent inalienable views of life harnessed within the umwelt.
General Discussion
During the 17th century, Carl Linnaeus was born into a world of curious explorers and into a “moment when people were thoroughly entranced by and in love with the living world” (Yoon, 2009, p. 33). Linnaeus published the first edition of The System of Nature in 1735, which organized the living organisms of the world, and this set the standard through the trials of time (Yoon, 2009, p. 47). Charles Darwin eventually wrote “On the Origin of Species” after pondering the umwelt and yet unknown taxonomical hierarchy of life. As the scientific theories evolved, people began searching for answers to all their questions. Within his studies of barnacles, Darwin saw that these crustaceans were individually unique from other forms of barnacles. Such a curious life form was these tiny sea creatures, as Darwin “discovered that the existing ordering of all the other barnacles was a classification nightmare of endless confusion” (Yoon, 2009, p. 69). As one proclaimed explorer would discover a new animal, so would others. It was not long until everyone was classifying different animals with different names, so they could take credit for an already discovered animal. This individual need to classify is truly, what captivates the umwelt. [MP1] Due to the recent development of the scientific explorer, at the time everyone was too busy finding these new and unknown creatures that no one was taking the time to study one species, in its undisturbed environment.
As classifications progressed to ordering each organism into the tree of life and establishing ancestral relations, there came a systematical error of preferences for who possessed knowledge, and this began the “lumper-splitter battle” A battle all incoming Anthropology students will be exposed to, this battle is still relevant in recent Anthropological discoveries, such as the Rising Star Cave. (Yoon, 2009, p. 93). Distinguishing a cow from a lungfish, a bird from a dinosaur, or a human from an ape seemed rather rudimentary for some. Just as an optical illusion is presentable and different people will see different things, the taxonomists faced alternate perspectives with the non-taxonomists. The lumpers were known for taking multiple animals and putting them all into the same category (Yoon, 2009, p. 93) leaving no room for all the individual traits that the splitters were so intrigued by mainly using many categories (Yoon, 2009, p. 93.). By each their own umwelt, both forms and measurements of identifying living organisms became a vast struggle because all perspectives were conflicted.
Once upon a time, in an island known as Hegemony, there were three Princes and King White mandated that whoever created the best castle would become the new King. Prince Blue was the first to explore the island in search of resources for his castle and he stumbled upon cylinder shaped objects that he named logs. In excitement, he gathered as many logs as he could for his soon-to-be-castle on the East end of the island. Prince Blue was the second prince to explore the island and he stumbled upon three-sided-pointed objects that he named prisms. They came in all assorted sizes, so Prince Blue knew that these would be perfect for his castle on the West end of the island. Prince Purple was the last one to explore the island. He saw multiple options and he could not make up his mind on what to use for his castle? As he passed the East end of the island, Prince Red yelled out, “I have discovered logs! They are the future and I will create the best castle!” As he passed the West end of the island, Prince Blue yelled out, “I have discovered prisms! They are the future and I will create the best castle!” Prince Purple found a pile of prisms and logs next to each other. He thought to himself, why do these objects need to be separated? They are both objects… At the end of the day, King White walked around Hegemony to pick the best castle. When he saw Prince Red’s castle, he was not impressed. The logs made a perfect base structure but had no roof. When he saw Prince Blue’s castle, he was not impressed. The prisms made a very tall pointy castle that left no room to stand. Then he saw Prince Purple’s castle on the North end of the island and said, “Eureka! That’s it!” The castle had linking-logs that build a base and a giant prism that created a roof for the castle. Prince’ Red and Blue stared in anger and yelled, “Logs and prisms shouldn’t be linked together!” King Purple went on to rule the newly named Island, Taxonomy, with prisms and logs.
As presented, the umwelt that each Prince faced in this fictional analogous tale caused each to take their own perspectives of these objects and turn them into an objective reality. Though the Red and Blue princes believed that their way was best, the Purple prince created the best castle because he looked from multiple perspectives: You see red, I see blue, and together we see purple. It takes different forms of knowledge to successfully, understand something. Due to each person possessing a unique umwelt from their own culture, nurture, and life-experiences, trying to convince everyone that one way is correct seems impossible. This has occurred throughout the world as a modern contemporary human problem known as Global Warming.
The Inuit, whose umwelt consists of senses and awareness of the changing world for means of survival, are a non-Western tribe located in the Canadian Arctic and they have been noticing ecological shifts caused by climate change (Kimball, 2018). This shift was noticeable through their local knowledge of hunting seals. The seals make breathing holes in the ice, so they can dive in the water to hunt for food (Kimball, 2018). The Inuit stab into these holes with their spears to try to kill the seals when they come up for oxygen (Kimball, 2018). As the years have progressed, the ice holes have become increasingly thinner and the surrounding temperature has drastically increased: so much so, that the Inuit recall doing work outside in shorts and t-shirts to prevent overheating from their thick animal fur coats (Kimball, 2018).
In the hegemony of the Western system, institutions build knowledge. Then this knowledge spreads through money to those who claim the boundaries of its power. Western knowledge builds on power in leaders. Therefore, human contemporary problems such as anthropogenic climate change become a political campaign for money. The local knowledge that the Inuit possess is not in books, institutions, or prescribed research. The only way to understand the dynamics of dualistically surviving off temperature and seals is to live through the dynamics from generation to generation. The wise elders possess knowledge that is not in the vast libraries of Western society because of this commodity. Just as a numerical taxonomist can calculate species in a computer or a scientist can study seals through a swab of DNA, they are mere components of the system that has shaped their umwelt and will never understand what it means to think like the seals. These scientists will never be able to stand in the places of the Inuit and see the world in their perspectives through a non-Western society. When one’s world is built through science, people lose touch with the umwelt.
Conclusion
Regarding the loss of umwelt, Yoon (2009) stresses this in the concluding chapter of her book, “We are as umwelt-less, as devoid of vision, as any humans in the history of our species” (p. 272). People of a Western knowledge system are no longer interested in understanding the world that they live in, questioning the existence of fish, or noticing the dinosaurs that chirp on their window sills. As this disconnect with the surrounding world has occurred, people are more concerned with brand labels and spend their time streaming the local mall instead of going outside to see the world. As Darwin had hoped for in the 17th century, the accordance of scientific and common language has not been achieved (p. 273). Separation occurred and continues to occur as religion challenges science, local knowledge challenges institutional knowledge, and the hegemony continues to remove the keen eyes of interest that everyone once possessed in their early youth. Only if the humanity tries to refocus on this harmony of understanding the Earth and ourselves, can the true umwelt be returned, and growth can persist through the upcoming generations of aspiring knowlaedge.
References
Kimball, M. (2018, January). Class Lectures. Contemporary Human Problems, UNC.
Yoon, C. K. (2009). Naming nature: the clash between instinct and science. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
