Animals are inferior to humans
"The belief of human cognitive superiority became entrenched in human philosophy and sciences. Even Aristotle, probably the most influential of all thinkers, argued that humans were superior to other animals due to our exclusive ability to reason,"
As a society, we give animals a less important moral status. Throughout history we have had animals serve us. We have used animals to travel, to hunt, or have hunted them, and now we have them as our pets. Aristotle believed that human beings are superior to animals because human beings have the capacity for using reason to guide their conduct, and are more intelligent, while animals lack this ability and must instead rely on instinct. Therefore, the function of animals is to serve the needs of human beings. Humans have been misleading themselves for thousands of years by thinking that they're smarter than the rest of the animal kingdom.
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"The fact that they may not understand us, while we do not understand them, does not mean our 'intelligence' are at different levels, they are just of different kinds. When a foreigner tries to communicate with us using an imperfect, broken, version of our language, our impression is that they are not very intelligent. But the reality is quite different,"
So just because animals don't talk, but do understand us, isn't good enough reason for us as humans to use them to our advantage. Animals have rights and are just as smart as humans.
So just because animals don't talk, but do understand us, isn't good enough reason for us as humans to use them to our advantage. Animals have rights and are just as smart as humans.
-"Institutional Animal Care AndUse Committee." Theories on Animals and Ethics › Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee › UConn Health Center. Web. 18 May 2015.
- "Humans Not Smarter than Animals, Just Different, Experts Say." Humans Not Smarter than Animals, Just Different, Experts Say. 4 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 May 2015.
- "Humans Not Smarter than Animals, Just Different, Experts Say." Humans Not Smarter than Animals, Just Different, Experts Say. 4 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 May 2015.