Crist2004
| Crist2004 | |
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| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Crist2004 |
| Author(s) | Eileen Crist |
| Title | Can an insect speak? The case of the honeybee dance language |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, Animal mind, Form of life, Honeybee, Language, Human-animal continuity |
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| Year | 2004 |
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| Journal | Social Studies of Science |
| Volume | 34 |
| Number | 1 |
| Pages | 7–43 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1177/0306312704040611 |
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Abstract
In this paper I investigate the scientific understanding of the honeybee dance language. I elucidate the implicit and explicit reasons why the honeybees’ communication system has been referred to as a ‘language’, and examine the ways this designation has entangled the themes of animal mind and human– animal continuity. I end with an investigation of a scientific controversy surrounding the honeybee dance language. I argue that this controversy was a battle over assumptions regarding insect capacities, and a willingness or unwillingness to abandon those assumptions in the face of a phenomenon that undermined them.
Notes
