The Human Animal

Are humans any different from other animals? I've heard arguments such as a dog will give it's life to save an owner, which gives it compassion and choice. I've heard that squirrels save nuts for the winter, giving them the ability to plan -- all traits that we have. But is there anything that really makes us different? If so, what do you think that is? Common answers tend to be logic, the ability to believe, consciousness, greed, malice . . .

What does everyone here think?

 

For one example, other animals lack the capacity for abstract thought.

 

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other animals certainly do think abstractly , that is , by associating catagorical thoughts . they learn and reason and remember and teach their young . humans are just more adept at this art of the Symbol . all of life speaks . because life is in motion , one symbol we all share is SPACE . even a bug can mark out a circle for you upon the page of a book you read in the lamplight , all for to say love . SPACE and LOve >

Human-Centricity is a philosophy that will die . we are not exclusively next to godliness in all creation .

we are animal . simply of this life .

just think of all you have not embraced because of a narrowly focused philosophy . not that we haven't learned something from it , and dreamed into the heavens with it , and built fantastic physical civilizations . such , though , tisn't relational enough . to fall short of fully relational is to die from irrelevance . evil = irrelevant . good = good .
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Well, both people and animals have intellect and instinct. In man, the intellect is more developed than instinct, and in animals instinct is more developed than intellect. For example, an animal will automatically be drawn to eat what is best for it, but people need to read books, i.e., to engage in some intellectual activity to determine what is healthy to eat. Animals will automatically know how to engage in sexual/reproductive activity, people frequently need to read some 'how to' book to figure out how the process works. Those are just a few examples.

Humans, on the other hand, have the ability to engage in abstract thought, which has allowed us to build things, engage in scientific enquiry, etc., etc..

 

Animalz got tailz, weezz got egohz 2 wag about.

 

Whilst animals may 'think' in one sense, they don't think as we do. They can't, as they lack a complex symbol system of language in which to think.

It is primarily language which seems to differentiate us from 'lower' spieces. Our capacity to make abstract symbols.

As to a dog defending its owner - it's all due to the pack instinct, the very thing which makes dogs domesticable. It has absolutely nothing to do with 'compassion' - that is a typical human misreading of canine behaviours.
I love dogs, but I have never for one moment deluded myself into thinking any dog has compassion or any other feeling which is not wholly instinctual and aimed at survival goals.
For a preditor like a dog, compassion is totally irrelevant. It has no survival value for a wolf pack.

 

howel howel, dogz ar petz uv ego freakz.

 

cats of course are only for those who have no ego

 

oh , i've met enough talking animals to be assured that we are not the only ones on this planet who think in symbols . as a human , i feel quite respected as 'spoken' to . only one particular crow i met actually vocalized words . said to me la~la~ o and then scratched the tree branch then said it again . la~la~ o , scratch . twice is nice .


one can hear this language during kroketing , the congress of crows , on the occasion they gather from all around unto one tree . their voices become soft and conversational .

peace to this .

 

now meat not eat.

 

Animals need to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, occasionally shelter themselves, and reproduce (to propogate the species). So do people. Animals have social structures. So do people. Animals have survival "tools" built into their bodies, like claws and teeth, and a few animals actually use external tools to help them survive. So do people.

The main differences I see between the human animal and other animals are: other animals live in balance with nature. The human animal does not. Other animals do not strive to live in excess, but the human animal does.

Survival for us has become easy. I think this makes life a very boring ordeal for us. That might be the main reason why we live like we do as a species.

 

I wouldn't count on that. At present we're busy destroying the balance of nature which sustains us, and that could very well threaten the survival of our spieces within a relatively short space of time.

We aslo create conditions where survival isn't easy for other groups of humans - like in Iraq for example.

 

survive to live? strap on that dreadvest now an show em all wohz bozz.

 

People often forget that we are animals too. We only recognise our own inteligence as inteligent. Just because our animal instincts have changed over thousands of years, doesnt make us any different to them in the long run, we have just been granted the gift of curiosity, we live our lives based on that, other animals life their lives based on their instincts, we are forgettting ours, ignoring them..makes you wonder what the outcome of that will be doesnt it

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought

 

really the only thing that makes it possible for us to immagine ourselves so different and devorced from other life forms is the degree to which we have so completely surrounded ourselves with the artifacts created by our own hands and those of other members of our own species. and immagine IS the opperative term.

(even wolves have "family values"!)

=^^=
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i agree. To assume that we are a"higher life force is... well an assumption that has been existant for only a blip on the scale of existance of man. i think the main thing that separates us from the primitive animal is our creativity. also our unrelenting abillity to find complexities in verry simple matters. Haha what animal other than a human would question the verry question at hand?

 

Prove it

 

Think about it this way, suppose to a dog it is the most advanced. wat if their walking around, the vagrant ones anyway, saying to themselves "man I have to get me one of those humans, that'll feed me and rub me down all day, give me a safe domain..." and what If the Dolphins said "MAn, I gotta go to one of those theme park deals, free fish all fat and juicy, sure the space is small but I've got people to oogle me doing cool things, and a human to play with every once in a while. Hell even the spider might wnt to find one, they collect bugs and there's no snakes, good grub. Mice too would say the same thing. I think were just better servants... but is that a bad thing? I think thats a better question man.

 

Believing that humans are in some upper echelon wholly removed from animals is nothing but arrogant, humanocentric propaganda. We are nothing more than animals. Even after thousands of years of agriculture, society, and culture, our animal instincts are still intact. Hunger, anger, fear, love, sex, all are animal elements that are integral to the human condition. The only way to enjoy life is to embrace those instincts.