In response to M. Gaudet - original post here
As much as I feel that the human/nonhuman animal semantic distinction assumes a very high level of separation, the difference is not so microscopic, especially relative to the average scope of human life and discourse, that we can practically ditch our use of these terms. I understand that no one is seriously advocating eliminating these distinctions in language, but that seems to be the only linguistic solution in sight for eliminating the largely nonexistent difference between humans and other animals. We could also attempt to invent and popularize alternative terms describing humans as a category of animal but largely not a distinct category.
I wonder if a deeper issue may be that humans are evolved to view other animals as hugely different from our own species. Such a psychic distance would give us the advantage of more efficiently exploiting non-humans for our gain.
Without such a radical change in language, we can only fight the latent idea of difference in the words 'human' and 'animal' by stimulating the natural human capacity for empathy that allows us to view other beings as morally relevant conscious others.
As much as I feel that the human/nonhuman animal semantic distinction assumes a very high level of separation, the difference is not so microscopic, especially relative to the average scope of human life and discourse, that we can practically ditch our use of these terms. I understand that no one is seriously advocating eliminating these distinctions in language, but that seems to be the only linguistic solution in sight for eliminating the largely nonexistent difference between humans and other animals. We could also attempt to invent and popularize alternative terms describing humans as a category of animal but largely not a distinct category.
I wonder if a deeper issue may be that humans are evolved to view other animals as hugely different from our own species. Such a psychic distance would give us the advantage of more efficiently exploiting non-humans for our gain.
Without such a radical change in language, we can only fight the latent idea of difference in the words 'human' and 'animal' by stimulating the natural human capacity for empathy that allows us to view other beings as morally relevant conscious others.
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