A Telepathic Gorilla that Teaches… Philosophy??

plot

Ishmael, a giant gorilla, posts an ad in the local newspaper looking for a student.

Stay with me, it gets serious in a second… 

The nameless main character decides to answer the random posting and becomes Ishmael’s student. Here, the main character learns about Ishmael’s upbringing and begins a Socratic discussion which takes up almost the rest of the book. 

Learning about Ishmaels background is exciting and almost like a fantasy novel in itself: a super-intelligent Gorilla learns to speak telepathically (yes, Ishmael communicates telepathically). I really enjoyed this bit which I believe was necessary since any philosophical book needs something to lighten up the mood (for example: The Republic, by Plato – OMG I fell asleep after 10 pages). 

This aspect of Ishmael is very similar to The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, since Coelho develops serious philosophical ideas through a lighthearted story of a boy traveling the world. 

If you’re interested, check out my review of the alchemist here! 

*Waring: spoilers*  

Takeaways

Ishmael develops an argument, through a Socratic dialog between him and the main character, that there are two groups of people: the takers and the leavers. 

The takers are represented in our modern-day culture, who are seemingly at-war with the natural world and will eventually destroy it and themselves along with it. 

This comes from the “taker culture” which takers have all been unknowingly taught from a young age. The taker culture began during the agricultural revolution when some humans decided to no longer rely on mother nature, but themselves to survive. If a drought occurred, farmers would store food – surviving while other animals and humans died. The idea that takers can decide who lives and who dies (ex: the farmers who are takers live, while the hunter-gatherers die) is central to taker culture.

The “leavers”, as described by Ishmael, are the group of people that did not lose faith in mother nature and accepted death when it came because humans could never know who should live or die. Whether it be a wombat, tiger, or human, all children of the earth are equal.

“Leaver culture” can be seen in native populations which have been increasingly extinguished by the takers.

Ishmael points out world hunger as an example of taker culture propagating a harmful and destructive reality to the world. 

It is known that with enough food any population will increase exponentially, and this is exactly what the takers did.

Through cultivation and extreme hunting, sometimes leading to extinction, the human population has exploded. 

Although, an ecosystem can only support so much life.

In the natural world, famine, weather, and sickness regulate a population’s size, keeping it at an amount it can support.

Since the takers believe they know who should live and die, they kill animals who threaten their food source and, through medicine and increased food production, the takers have deemed themselves above the natural population regulating laws.

This constant increase in population requires a constant increase in food which eventually can’t be supported by our environment, assuming we haven’t already passed that mark.

Takers are only exacerbating natural problems, like famine, by increasing the human population exponentially above what it should be – effectively creating more people to go hungry.

Now, I love this book but don’t completely agree with everything in it. I find Ishmael’s argument about world hunger to have some truth, but majorly, I believe it to be an economic issue. We have enough food for the whole world, but it’s concentrated in first world countries, where people have the money to buy it. Additionally, I see no humane way to regulate our population. 

Do we let people die in extreme weather events?

Do we enforce a limit of 1 child per family?

Do we give up on the less economically fortunate people of our world?

The only solution I see, mentioned in the book, would be the use and increased popularity of contraceptives. This, although, would be tough to realistically implement.

That being said, nothing worthwhile is easy.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents on Ishmael, I hope you enjoyed and feel free to check out recent posts below!