To what extent are we special?

[Mr Spinkles]

To what extent are human beings "special"? This is a very complex and fascinating issue. You could look at the issue comparatively--comparing our species to other animals on Earth. (To what extent does our intelligence, our language and culture, our ability to manipulate our environment, and our self-awareness make us unique from other life forms?) You could look at the issue from a statistical standpoint--in other words, how probable is our existence, or the existence of animals like us? (This would entail looking at both cosmology and evolution.)

There's also a more philosophical approach: to what extent are humans free moral agents? In other words, should humans be considered morally culpable for their actions and to what extent, and are other animals also morally culpable? I guess my answer would be that, although we are products of our genetics and our environment just like all other animals, we (or at least, those of us who are not autistic) have the ability to understand that the world is full of other beings like ourselves, and because we have that awareness we should be expected to treat other beings in ways that shouldn't necessarily be expected of other animals.

**Okay, just to warn everybody, what follows is a lot of conjecture and speculation....**

This issue can get awfully hairy....people who work with animals know that they have personalities and can be just as unpredictable (and, sometimes, predictable) as people can (after all, human beings are animals).

I realize that there do not seem to be many characteristics of human beings that are totally unique to us....culture, ethics, social order, and even tool-making are present in other species. But certainly these things are not as pronounced in other animals as they are in us. I'm not very knowledgable about biology, so I'll wait for painted wolf to give us all the low-down on that aspect.

In terms of the probablitiy of our existence: First of all, there's the fundamental problem of how we define "special". If our existence was improbable, and our species something of a fluke, would we then be "special"? If the existence of intelligent life was probable, and our species only one of millions of intelligent life forms in the universe, would that make us "special"? It seems evident that, in terms of biology and evolution, our species is something of a fluke. However, in terms of cosmology and the physical constants of the universe (e.g. the mass of the electron), there is much debate over how probable/improbable it would have been for the first instants of the big bang to produce a universe in which carbon-based life is possible. (It is believed that in the early big bang, the fundamental constants of nature--like the strength of the gravitational force and the mass of the proton--were "frozen" in place.)

Hmm....actually, after some more thought, I think that the statistical approach is not a good way to answer this question. If our species is the product of unguided natural processes--whether they were probable or improbable processes--either way, our species is not "special". I guess to really answer this question we need to look at the comparative and/or philosophical approach.

I guess in the final analysis, as someone (was it Oscar Wilde?) said, art reflects more on the viewer than on the artwork itself. In that case, I suppose the question of whether humans are "special" depends on the values of the individual, not on the qualities of our species per se.

I, for one, definitely consider us special in some sense, though I am quick to qualify this by acknowledging that our uniqueness is one of magnitude rather than kind. There is certainly no magical, absolute barrier between humans and all other animals. I guess I would think of us as special in the same way that I would think of a small flower....it may not have much cosmic significance, but it's still special as long as I appreciate it. *edit: Kind of an egocentric view, isn't it?

 

[Sunstone]

Good questions, Spinks! While I can think of nothing that makes us completely special compared with the other animals, I agree that our species is special nonetheless in the degree to which we have developed culture as an adaptation to the environment, and in the degree to which we have intelligence, tool using, etc.

But I don't see any metaphysical reason to call us special. If we suppose a soul for our species, it is just as easy (and provable) to suppose a soul for all species, even bacteria.

As for our place in the cosmos, I see our species as a lucky byproduct of evolution, rather than as a purposive product of a willful universe.

 

[standing_on_one_foot]

It doesn't matter if we're truly free agents or not...society won't work very well if your average person isn't considered, to some extent, responsible for their actions. Animals hang around us, and do have personalities, and can be wonderful people, as it were, but they're not part of human society.

And it's kinda fun to consider ourselves special. We've got our own unique characteristics that are pretty nifty (as do all species, but we get to look at ours and say, "sweet, we rock!" or some variation on that).

As for probability of existence, I don't think we're a fluke. That seems to me to imply there's some plan or something we're deviating from, and most of the plans I've heard suggested (which do come from slightly biased sources, namely, us) don't seem to think we're a fluke.

Also: nothing wrong with being a bit egocentric as long as you don't go too crazy with it It's only human to think we matter, after all.

 

[mr.guy]

I bet if ants could think, they'd think they were supremely special. Maybe they already do.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

My grandmother always used to tell me I was a special girl. Now, as an adult, I'm afraid I can't deny she was absolutely right.

 

[MdmSzdWhtGuy]

We are special. We have a highly developed frontal lobe. We have opposable thumbs, and we can pass information along generation to generation in an effort to build our collective knowledge.

I personally can gain from the knowledge of Plato, Aristotle, an Einstein, all men smarter than myself and all of whom died before I was ever thought of. We are the only species who can do that. We are also the only species who allows its sick and infirm to breed and pass along defective genes to the next generation, and the only species that participates in large scale mechanized war.

So in MHO humans are quite special and unique. Not all of those specialities are a positive thing.

B.

 

[michel]

Good questions, Spinks! While I can think of nothing that makes us completely special compared with the other animals, I agree that our species is special nonetheless in the degree to which we have developed culture as an adaptation to the environment, and in the degree to which we have intelligence, tool using, etc.

But I don't see any metaphysical reason to call us special. If we suppose a soul for our species, it is just as easy (and provable) to suppose a soul for all species, even bacteria.

As for our place in the cosmos, I see our species as a lucky byproduct of evolution, rather than as a purposive product of a willful universe.

Nicely put! I agree; in purely physical terms, I suppose we must qualify as 'Special' here on Earth, in that we are able to do so much more than other creatures but I would qualify that with an "as far as we know". The research on Dolphins (for example) has shown them to be very complex creature, who possibly have abilities we could only dream of.

Metaphysically, I would say that humans are on a par with any other creature or plant life; each is an incredible demonstration of the wonders of evolution.

 

[painted wolf]

Humans are "special" to me because that is what I am.... species bias.

conversely they are the most frustrating and dissapointing species for the same reason.

wa:do

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Humans are "special" to me because that is what I am.... species bias.

conversely they are the most frustrating and dissapointing species for the same reason.

painted wolf, I'm a bit disappointed here. I was hoping you would give us some information on the communcations, social structures, and primitive 'culture' and toolmaking abilities of other animals, and demonstrate that most of our human qualities are different/more complex versions of things that already exist in other animals.

From a biology perspective, what would you say is unique/special about humans? (Think along the lines of what you would say is unique/special about bees, or wolves, etc.)

Have humans had a greater impact on regional/global environments than other species, for example? Are we the only species with the ability for abstract thought/language?

 

[Flappycat]

Every species has its particular set of unique qualities. If they didn't, we wouldn't be able to tell them from one another. The answer is yes, and the answer is no. To say that we are more particularly extraordinary than every other animal in the world would be a treason to reason, of course, but to point out specific things that are special about humans wouldn't be such a folly. Humans have a cleverness with tools, and this is one of the things that make them humans. In many other ways, though, they're underevolved, primitive, and downright goofy. Humans are what humans are.

 

[YmirGF]

We are special in that we have the ability to externalize our thoughts and ideas into concrete physical terms. Not too many other animals have this ability. We are the human animal, the mammal that makes its thoughts real. No small feat.