What separates humans from animals is the ability to reason.
Dolphins, chimpanzees, and even mice all have the ability to reason. If you mean we're sentient and conscious of our own existence, we're not alone in that either, dolphins have the same trait. In fact, a number of scientists and philosophers believe they are people, and should be treated as such. The evidence for this is quite overwhelming.
Aaand this is why humans have altruistic tendencies yet are still plagued with very selfish tendencies as well, because we were born out of this process... This is why we have to fight it, because for something like 99% of our ancestral evolution altruism was nowhere to be seen. Preying on the weak is something that is deeply ingrained.
People are not greedy in societies where resources are plentiful or the society does not force productivity (profit). See: Native Americans.
Sacrieur, your argument is that we aren't superior to animals, and shouldn't act as such.
In a nutshell.
So what your saying is, we should all act like animals. In that case I'm going to take off all my clothes, run around naked outside, grunt an howl, and poop wherever I want. Then I'm going to chase down some other smaller animal and kill it for food, and eat it raw! After I've gotten my fill of the bunny I just killed, I'm going to go start a fight with the next male human I see to establish dominance and if I win I'll have sex with every female in sight.
Now where did you get that idea? It's like a strawman and reductio ad absurdum rolled into one. First off, even if this were the case, it does not make my argument any less valid. Second, it's not the case. Not every animal is as you describe. Hell, most animals aren't as you describe. Apes don't even do what you describe. There are lots of relatively peaceful animals, like elephants and whales. You seem to have it in your head that all animals are a certain way, that it is demeaning, which I guess is partially due to culture. This is nothing short of silly. We are animals, and ergo act like animals (because that's what we are; we define what acting like an animal is).
More specifically, we act like humans. Which are rather sophisticated creatures that build complex tools. Not wanting to be lumped into the rest of the animals is like some superiority complex. When really, we're hardly different. The similarities between us and every other bloody animal we have come into contact with is so incredible I don't even know how people can deny they don't fit into the same category, usually invoking something supernatural into the mix to justify it. This usually stems from the fact that we have souls or what have you. The funny part is that there is no real mention of our soul-ship making us non-animals in a holy book. And if there is, point it out to me. And none of this speculation stuff, I want definitive proof, not something that can be held in equal favor with another view (granting that the holy book is true, of course).
If you really believe we are smart enough to not act on instinct, you are also saying that we are superior to animals.
Not quite. We are superior in intelligence, insomuch as reason, pattern recognition, processing, language, memory, and etc. To go from this to show that we are superior period is another jump entirely. We are rather weak in the animal kingdom. We're not even great generalists, and our generalist abilities only stem from our creative use of what we do have. We cannot see, touch, hear, smell, or taste as well as other animals. We must build tools and augmentations to compensate.
Other animals don't act purely on instinct, and most have a limited capacity to think on some complex levels. Like dolphins or chimps. Apes use tools, and teach this to their young. Clearly this is not instinct.
I know, obviously the Native Americans were not being treated like animals, but they were at a disadvantage. Eventually the Natives learned to speak the languages of the Europeans, and they blended into society. On the other hand, animals can't talk, hold jobs, and drive cars. They are not the same.
Animals aren't smart enough to know that they are being raised for food. They can feel pain.
They were not treated like animals? Perhaps you should take a closer look at that whole manifest destiny thing and see for yourself. We called them savages and performed genocide. This of course isn't taught in our history classes. And yes, animals can feel pain just as much as we do.
But being cruel to animals is just pointless. If the workers at a slaughterhouse are beating the chickens, they should be replaced, because, #1 They are immature enough to find that amusing. #2 They are ruining perfectly good meat. #3 They are wasting company time.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not out to stop the eating of animals. We are predators, I cannot deny this fact. And we do live well on meat. The point is that what we're doing to them is just plain wrong. Yes, we're going to eat some cows, but at least give them some nice green pastures and treat them well. It's better for us too, what with good quality meat.
I hate how everyone is dumbing human downs to evil, selfish beings. If we're so aware of this then why don't we change it? We've overcame many things such as slavery...atleast on the developed world. Of course the undeveloped world is gonna stick some time in their anarchist times, but as developed countries can't we overcome this?
I keep asking this question. If I grew up in the early 1800s, would I be okay with slavery, or would I oppose it? The majority of Americans were okay with it (except the slaves). I'd like to think 100 years from now when teenagers look back on us they'll find our treatment of animals absolutely absurd.
If say for the cost of a tv would become the daily cost of food, imagining this then we would see people basically starve. Yes our system is flawed but at least it works.
Detroit agrees. It is definitely working.
None.