When was the last time you saw an animal – any animal – with schizophrenia or a bipolar disorder? I'm not talking about an animal which has been driven mad by being incarcerated in a tiny enclosure by man. I'm talking about animals in their natural state. You won't find any – these exquisite little inconveniences are left to humankind.
My thinking on this, is that it may be because animals know what they’re here for. They know their purpose, and hence what they have to busy themselves with each day. They do not have to over-analyze things, jump to conclusions, or torture themselves by trying to remember the lies and deceits they have told in the preceding few days or weeks. They don’t have to try and still their troubled consciences from the wrongs they have inflicted on their fellow animals.
We humans on the other hand, appear far too “clever” (and one might wonder about that word, given the state of the earth and our responsibility for it) for our own good.
Here’s some food for thought – these few lines (and the title to this email) from a publication on April 2, 2012, by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions :
"Man in his arrogance thinks of himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. [Yet it is] more humble and, I believe, true to consider him created from animals." (Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man)
I and many others have written about the myth of human exceptionalism, noting that while we are indeed rather special and unique big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, over-populating, over-consuming, and invasive mammals, individuals of other species also are special and unique in their own ways. None are as wantonly and intentionally destructive of members of their own and other species.
Based on solid evolutionary theory, namely Charles Darwin's ideas about evolutionary continuity that explain how differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind, claims about human superiority are ill-founded, although they are often used to justify the domination of other animals and their homes. There are no "lower" and "higher" animals and we should stop using this misleading dualistic terminology that promotes anthropocentric specious speciesism.”
This is the YouTube video of a very thought-provoking documentary released this year, featuring Dr Bernard Rollin, Gary Yourofsky Dr Richard Ryder, Dr Steven Best. Narrated by Dr Nick Gylaw..
My thinking on this, is that it may be because animals know what they’re here for. They know their purpose, and hence what they have to busy themselves with each day. They do not have to over-analyze things, jump to conclusions, or torture themselves by trying to remember the lies and deceits they have told in the preceding few days or weeks. They don’t have to try and still their troubled consciences from the wrongs they have inflicted on their fellow animals.
We humans on the other hand, appear far too “clever” (and one might wonder about that word, given the state of the earth and our responsibility for it) for our own good.
Here’s some food for thought – these few lines (and the title to this email) from a publication on April 2, 2012, by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. in Animal Emotions :
"Man in his arrogance thinks of himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. [Yet it is] more humble and, I believe, true to consider him created from animals." (Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man)
I and many others have written about the myth of human exceptionalism, noting that while we are indeed rather special and unique big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, over-populating, over-consuming, and invasive mammals, individuals of other species also are special and unique in their own ways. None are as wantonly and intentionally destructive of members of their own and other species.
Based on solid evolutionary theory, namely Charles Darwin's ideas about evolutionary continuity that explain how differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind, claims about human superiority are ill-founded, although they are often used to justify the domination of other animals and their homes. There are no "lower" and "higher" animals and we should stop using this misleading dualistic terminology that promotes anthropocentric specious speciesism.”
This is the YouTube video of a very thought-provoking documentary released this year, featuring Dr Bernard Rollin, Gary Yourofsky Dr Richard Ryder, Dr Steven Best. Narrated by Dr Nick Gylaw..
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