So, supervisor Ben sounded positive about my ideas regarding animal 'culture'. He said he didn't know of any work on this area and it could make a great paper - or a book!!!
But I have to resolve various things:
What is culture? There are various definitions - so of which by their nature exclude the possibility of animals having culture. So, I have to define culture in a way that does not exclude animals. In principle, this is fine - as the ethologists and sociologists and biologists have indeed been considering this problem and have some definitions to explore. This still means that I have to defend my choice of a definition.
What animals fit my definition of culture? So far, the biologists seem to say some cetaceans, some birds and some fish. Maybe some insects! But they argue over the primates - for scientific reasons. So, I have to justify why I believe that certain animals do exhibit culture. My hope is that I can include, as well as cetaceans, elephants, corvids and wolves.
Why does animal culture matter anyway? Maybe the first thing I need to do is say that animals matter... I think I can maybe state that... but then is the value of culture dependent on the theory? For example, if culture has instrumental value (is helps them survive and enhances well being), then it would perhaps be factored in a utilitarian or virtue/care ethics framework. What about deontology? Would I have to show that animal rights must encompass culture as its loss infringes a right? That leads to the next point...
Is there an inherent value to culture, not just an instrumental value? Perhaps... I'd have to argue that. But I could use arguments related to the intrinsic value of knowledge, perhaps. If song complexity is of value only in a large group of birds, who cares if a small group of birds lose complexity?This is a big one.
How does culture impact animal ethics versus environmental ethics (in which species or ecosystem is important rather than the individual animals, as in normal animal ethics)? Perhaps it demands a relational approach... between conspecifics? But what if their culture incorporates offering assistance to other species (as with some cetaceans and elephants)? What if it is dependent on particular aspects of the environment?
What does this lead to - in terms of habitat protection, captive animals, numbers of conspecifics in a given area, particular individuals?
What about the culture of domestic animals? Sociologists suggest that we create a cultural framework with them.
How does the protection of animal culture differ from the protection of human cultures, or does it not? I would suggest that it depends on the flexibility of the animal and the wealth or lack of resources? Losing the knowledge of where water can be found in a drought doesn't seem to matter if there's always water available.
This is a pretty decent starting point!
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