Daniel Quinn's Ishmael

On Thursday, a friend told me about how much she was enjoying the book “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn. Ishmael is a half-ton silverback gorilla who puts an ad in a newspaper: "Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” A nameless man responds finds himself in a room with the gorilla, who communicates with him telepathically. The man learns the story of the gorilla, Ishmael, who is a student of ecology, life, freedom, and the human condition. The man accepts the gorilla as his teacher.
I related many of the things she told me to our Singer and Regan readings and class discussions, so I researched the book.

Ishmael defines:
"Takers" as people often referred to as "civilized.” Particularly, the culture born in an Agricultural Revolution that began about 10,000 years ago in the Near East; the culture of Ishmael's pupil.

"Leavers" as people of all other cultures; sometimes referred to as "primitive."

A "story" as an interrelation between the gods, man, and the Earth, with a beginning, middle, and end.

To "enact" is to strive to make a story come true.

A "culture" as a people who are enacting a story.

The premises enacted by the Takers is that they are the pinnacle of evolution (or creation), that the world was made for man, and that man is here to conquer and rule the world. This rule is meant to bring about a paradise, as man increases his mastery of the world, however, he is always failing because he is flawed.

According to Ishmael, our agricultural revolution was not a technological event but a moral one, a rebellion against an ethical structure inherent in the community of life since its foundation four billion years ago. Having escaped the restraints of this ethical structure, humankind made itself a global tyrant, wielding deadly force over all other species while lacking the wisdom to make its tyranny a beneficial one or even a sustainable one.

Ishmael postulates that all animals were evolving at an even pace until about 10,000 years ago, when humans suddenly jumped significantly ahead of all other species. He linked this to man’s development into an agrarian society. He says that our agricultural domination of the planet is hindering the natural progressive evolution of other beings into reflective, understanding, communities. Ishmael believes an evolutionarily stable for all species is a survival strategy they later dubbed the Law of Limited Competition: "You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war.” All species inevitably follow this law, or consequently go extinct. The Takers believe themselves to be exempt from this Law and flout it at every point.

Another quote I found from the book:

"The story of Genesis must be undone. First, Cain must stop murdering Abel. This is essential if you are to survive. The Leavers are the endangered species most critical to the world - not because they are humans but because they alone can show the destroyers of the world that there is more than one right way to live. And then, of course, you must spit out the fruit of the forbidden tree. You must absolutely and forever relinquish the idea that you know who should live and who should die on this planet."

In class we were discussing how there must be some hierarchy stratifying beings by assigned or inherent value, and our moral obligation to some forms of life is greater than our moral obligation to “lesser” beings.

I wonder if Quinn and Ishmael would agree with us. I would interpret their last statement in the above quote as contrary to our discussion of some life forms as inherently more valuable, and deserving of being designated as moral agents or equally valuable moral patients.