April 4, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
As an entry point into the great idea of “Family,” Adler quotes Rousseau who claims that family is “the most ancient of all societies and the only one that is natural.” Adler then explains that by natural he means something to the effect of either “instinctive” or “necessary.” Rousseau continues that children stay with parents only as long as is necessary. If they remain with family after necessary needs have been met, then Rousseau would call this a matter of “convention” which is not necessarily natural, but something cultural or for convenience.
I recently read Jane Goodall’s book In the Shadow of Man and found many similar discussions. Goodall explores the nature of familial relationships in the chimpanzee world. Over years of close observation, she discovered that some male chimps formed special bonds. She found this unique or uncharacteristic because most male chimps act aggressively toward other males. Males typically live a fairly solitary life, wandering in and out of the group. So, to see two males relying upon one another for food, help in conflicts, and grooming interested Goodall. She noticed that two companion males would often sit close to each other, grooming and comforting the other. They also supported each other in stressful situations and fights. Two being stronger than one, having a sidekick often changed the dynamic of power struggles. Over years of observation, she realized that bonded males are often siblings. This finding, if true, tends to support the notion that family bonds are, in some sense, natural.
Furthermore, Goodall documented many instances of chimp behavior where a frightened young child sought the comfort of its mother. The mother also felt a bond to the child and often sought to protect its child in dangerous situations. Goodall writes, “Humans may sometimes feel reassured by holding or stroking a dog or some other pet in moments of emotional crisis. This comfort, which chimpanzees and humans alike appear to derive from physical contact with another, probably originates during the years of infancy, when for so long the touch of the mother, or the contact with her body, serves to calm the frights and soothe the anxieties of both ape and human infants. So, when the child grows older and his mother is not always at hand, he seeks the next best thing – close physical contact with another individual.” On the flip side, chimpanzee children who are not weaned at an appropriate time fail to thrive. Instead, they demonstrate high levels of anxiety which includes behaviors like the inability to eat and sleep alone.
Chimpanzee family units are markedly different from human societies. Chimpanzees usually maintain loosely knit groups. Only a mother and a child or two will be together all the time, even nesting together. The rest come and go at eating times, grooming times (social hours), and during stressful situations. Otherwise, they roam large areas of forest. Humans, however, have created conventional units. Families live together in a single space and can consist of married couples, children, grandparents, and more. These units reflect both nature and convention because humans have many laws (both written and unwritten) which guide appropriate family behavior. Economics and politics filter into the function of every day living, which in turn, shapes the way that a family can exist. From this arises questions of duty. Kant believes that it is a father’s duty to educate their child, while also paying for the child’s preservation.
Rousseau views this more as a natural and loving bond rather than duty. Other philosophers believe that the parent’s relationship to their children resembles despotic rule. In Tocqueville’s eyes, the father’s duty diminishes as the child grows. Early stages bear similarity to despotic rule but as they grow, the child moves away from the control into a relationship of respect. One interesting note throughout the section on family is that mothers are listed as an afterthought. Most philosophers believe the father has main care-taking responsibility. Duties may fall to mother, but the overall responsibility resides with the father. This is markedly different in the chimp world where mothers alone care for children.
Although there are many reasons a child might not thrive, in both Goodall’s work and Adler’s great idea of Family, parents must first form some “natural” bond with their children. They gradually nurture children towards independence. Neither Adler nor Goodall know what success requires, though they both mention unhealthy responses to being weaned to early or controlled for too long.
Both Adler and Goodall raise the question as to whether society is an extension of family. Adler mentions the industrial revolution as a key disruption in family life. He says, “In effect, the industrial revolution produced an economy in which not only agriculture but the family ceased to be central. The problem shifts from the wealth of families to the wealth of nations, even as production shifts from the family to the factory.” Though no such event occurs in the chimp society, societal structures often change. Everyone takes their cues from dominant males, and of course from the encroaching baboon community and human world. In what sense the communities are natural is still a question to be asked. However, as Adler pointed out at the beginning of his essay on Family, there is something instinctual and necessary in both cases.
Near the end of Goodall’s book, she raises an intriguing problem. She mentions that chimp societies struggle with violence, particularly within the adolescent population. These groups no longer rely on parents, but they also have not yet established groups in society. Until they find a group, they remain volatile and problematic. Goodall also noted odd behavior on a handful of other occasions, reminiscent of trauma or mental illness. While she hoped to continue to study these behaviors, she noted a striking similarity in the teenage behaviors of humans. She writes: “Observations at Gombe have highlighted striking similarities in the behavior of chimpanzee and man, notably in nonverbal communication patterns. Thus a thorough understanding of chimpanzee behavior will be of value in our efforts to understand our own. The problem of human aggression is of vital importance. Before we can effectively control violence we must understand it. … The methods by which we raise our children should be a point of interest to all…. Our work highlights the importance of the mother-offspring affectionate bond in chimpanzees but we are not sure why some adult chimpanzees maintain closer bonds with their families than others. The answer may be significant to the understanding of some human family problems.”
Of course, these two readings also touch on ideas of nature, self, identity, society, education, mind, etc. Connections are endless!
Goodall, Jane. In the Shadow Man, Revised Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston. 1988.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/ Catherine D. Sales
