Re: Re: Humans, what's our value?
Posted by Suhail on 12-22-2007 in Are humans the most valuable organisms on the planet?You missed the point completely.
You derive such emotional attachment with your mother, girlfriend, who ever because of your personal experiences with them not simply because they are human. It's obvious that your personal experience is obviously enhanced because you're both human, there are advantages to that.
Let's work with what you've stated thus far:
"I love my dog, she is a great companion and I will be very, very sad when she passes away."
Let me ask you something, every time someone dies, are you "very, very sad"? Probably not, otherwise you'd be one of hell of a depressed individual. See how it's so easy to compare something random to something you care about and win an argument? That's precisely what you did before.
In this argument, we are not talking about people who you've had an experience with and how they outweigh a random animal, we're talking about how you can derive the same value in an animal just as a human. The emotional investment in both can equate to the same value in your eyes.
September 11th was an extremist attack on a certain kind of people, 3000 cats dying after a kennel explosion is quite different. And yes it does get coverage, ever heard of the endangered species list? Wonder why Australia's citizens are protesting over Japan killing Whales? It's getting more coverage considering there's thousands of organizations and protests occurring every day.
I attempted to squelch an argument of emotional value by providing my point that we can derive similar emotional value from an animal just as a human. It depends on everyone's experience.
The prospect and potential of value is the same in my eyes, humans aren't inherently more valuable. I think it's harsh and egotistical to think so.
In response to: Re: Humans, what's our value?
In response to the Original Post:
I read this response again more carefully and came across something that struck me. You said that humans do not show more of an affinity towards members of their own species than towards dogs/cats or other household pets. I don't think this could be further from the truth. You use the example of a beloved pet dying and the sadness derived from it but don't really give it a fair comparison under similar circumstances. What about when a mother loses a child? Uou don't believe the tragedy there outweighs the feeling the same woman would have if her pet dog died? What if kennel with 3000 cats exploded, you think that would get the same coverage as September 11th did or inspire the same emotion?
The emotional investment humans place in members of their own species outweighs what they place in pets and it isn't even close. I love my dog, she is a great companion and I will be very, very sad when she passes away. But the pain from that wouldn't even be comparable to one of my parents, brother, girlfriend, friend losing their life. I don't believe I am in the minority here, either.