The Animal in All of Us

[wilbur lim]

Let me preface by saying philosophy is something I'm new to.I just realized that I had a raft of unanswered questions, and figured I should do something about that. So, if this comes off as entirely idiotic, feel free to brush it off or point out some sort of scientific reasoning that makes this question non-debatable.Many thanks.


The question I'd like to pose, is what separates humans from animals? What puts us on a tier of our own, other than our human conceit that places us on that pedestal?

Traits are passed on from generation to generation, with a fairly minuscule change between. Each minuscule change adding up through the generations until eventually an entirely new species has been formed. Each species through these changes has been referred to as an animal, until you get to humans. It is generally understood (unless we're talking Creationism, which I'm certainly not) that we evolved from Primates, but for some reason our higher stature and intellect seems to allow us to hold ourselves in a different light. Why?

[jgweed]

While humans might share origin with other animals, and there may be physical relationships (similar functions, for example, of the sense-organs) and a locomotive ability, there does seem to be a difference, both in strength of memory and the ability to engender meaningfulness (and value) to their own existence and their future existence. To paraphrase Aristotle (the introduction to the Metaphysics, which in part discusses the difference), all men by nature desire to understand; and it is this that seems to be the defining characteristic of humanity. One might also point to Protagoras, who is said to have pronounced "Man is the measure of all things, that they are what they are and are not what they are not," by which he might have meant that knowledge and understanding of being-as-such is limited to the human perspective.

[blazeofglory]

In fact man conceals the beast in him, the deadly brute by values he pretends to live with, and at times he manifests himself into his real self, and of course unmasking what he really is. Remove layers we see in us something terrible behind all these religious and moral beings, the beast in us.

[Judas130]

In fact man conceals the beast in him, the deadly brute by values he pretends to live with, and at times he manifests himself into his real self, and of course unmasking what he really is. Remove layers we see in us something terrible behind all these religious and moral beings, the beast in us.

indeed, i call this 'beast' Satan as a force of nature. Read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and you see the duality of Victorian and/or Edwardian lifestyle, but it makes a good point that without law, or moral, or guilt, we would embrace these animalistic sides to ourselves which we currently conceal, and we would do this without shame and not think twice. We as humans are dualistic in nature due to the laws we abide that change the way we were created to be, we are animals, what it is that separates us from the rest is civilisation and its laws.

[blazeofglory]

indeed, i call this 'beast' Satan as a force of nature. Read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and you see the duality of Victorian and/or Edwardian lifestyle, but it makes a good point that without law, or moral, or guilt, we would embrace these animalistic sides to ourselves which we currently conceal, and we would do this without shame and not think twice. We as humans are dualistic in nature due to the laws we abide that change the way we were created to be, we are animals, what it is that separates us from the rest is civilisation and its laws.

Whether or not we have moral laws or principles the beast in man can not be tamed or reined in always, and it is taking a short respite and when time comes it becomes manifest.