This argument has been going on since the 1970s. Rosin's position has hardly changed, which is remarkable in the face of all the discoveries that have take place in the interim'

QUOTED MATERIAL 

Rosin attacked the dance language on the grounds that it contravenes a clear-cut demarcation between human and insect realms: 

> The controversy between the 'language' hypothesis and the olfactory hypothesis for the arrival of honey bee recruits at field sources, is essentially a controversy between a human-level hypothesis for an insect and an insect-level hypothesis for an insect. Since a hypothesis which claims human-level 'language' for an insect upsets the very foundation of behavior, and biology in general, the burden of proof for the 'language' hypothesis is, and always was, upon supporters of that hypothesis. (Rosin, Ruth. 1978.The Honey Bee "Language" Controversy). 

The meanings of a 'human-level hypothesis' and 'insect-level hypothesis' are assumed to be both clear and fixed. The author proceeds to make the burden of proof for a 'human-level hypothesis' an endless task for the proponents of the dance language. Rejecting the dance language, Rosin wrote: 

> maintains honeybees at a state of ordinary insects, which may be disappointing. But then, it also retains our old-fashioned phylogenetic system in a relatively intact state, which is no small consolation' (Rosin, Ruth. 1978). 

One might well wonder, in the post-Darwinian life sciences, what an 'old-fashioned phylogenetic system' exactly is, and why it is a consolation to retain it. Rosin's critiques of the dance language are the most transparent in showing that the dance-as-code was objectionable for disturbing a priori hierarchical assumptions.

SEE:
Can an Insect Speak? The Case of the Honeybee Dance Language
Eileen Crist, Social Studies of Science 34/1(February 2004) 7–43

* * *

Beyond the appreciable facts of their life we know but little of the bees.
And the closer our acquaintance becomes, the nearer is our ignorance
brought to us of the depths of their real existence. But such ignorance is
better than the other kind, which is unconscious and satisfied. 
(Maurice Maeterlinck. 1901: 6)
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