What makes us human?
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a biological relationship that is an indefinite monogomy doesn't equate to love.rollerfox88 said:
animals do not love because they don't think about love.
I don't think love felt as a mechanic makes it pure it makes it hollow.Dread Skavos said:
but then presumeing to know what love is undermines my arguement.
"love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon."
W.B.Yeats.
you see i'm unable to argue my point further for believing love is to complex to do so.
i will say however mamals and birds never felt love like we have. Read Wuthering Heights and my opinion should be clear.
or the Flea, just because its excellent.
EDIT: or perhaps I'm just a hopeless Romantic
Two things that came to mind before reading others say it; emotions and reasoning. But I wouldn't say one single thing makes us human.
Some are saying, "well dogs can do that too." Just because another animal does something doesn't mean that it can't be a quality that makes us human. Dogs can swim. Are they now fish?
We share many qualities with other animals; perhaps it's the uniqueness and complexity of these qualities that make us human.
Some are saying, "well dogs can do that too." Just because another animal does something doesn't mean that it can't be a quality that makes us human. Dogs can swim. Are they now fish?
We share many qualities with other animals; perhaps it's the uniqueness and complexity of these qualities that make us human.
Explain how saying "we have to be careful that we aren't merely anthropomorphizing animals" elevates the human condition beyond scrutiny?rollerfox88 said:
If they are acting differently due to a biochemical reaction then it isn't different. But just because their actions APPEAR to match what humans do as a result of emotion does not necessarily mean the swans are feeling emotion. Again, I'm not saying swans don't have emotions, only that we have to be careful to separate what is actually happening from our own biases.
What makes us humans?
The evolved state of our brain and the level at which we can understand things. Plain and simple. Nothing about ideologies or ethics. What makes us human, what makes ideologies possible, what gives us knowledge, is our highly developed brains.
The evolved state of our brain and the level at which we can understand things. Plain and simple. Nothing about ideologies or ethics. What makes us human, what makes ideologies possible, what gives us knowledge, is our highly developed brains.
ok i'll fix this for you.rollerfox88 said:
So they mate for life (i'll assume some things)thats great, they die from the absence of their mate ok. sounds like love; well its not.
If they all mate for life its "they have no choice" so its not love but an act of biological imperitive, so if they die from "depresssion" it's because they can't mate any longer and are no longer required to live because they can't procreate.
Swans do not love, they act out a genetic script.
you know what you can call what youre doing anthropomorphism
I guess i am of a Keatsian disposition; You think too little of humanity's expression of love and too greatly of the behavior of swans.rollerfox88 said:
but on a side note, it is not a genetic script to us because we can love without procreation, nothing of human love reeks of genetic neccessity.
"Mark but this flea"
You can try and make it some sort of ethical or philosophical reason but it isn't. Animals distinguish between right and wrong all the time, it may not be your right and wrong but they still do it. As for philosophy... well the vast majority of people think that philosophy is writing (read: copy and pasting) a 'deep' Facebook status so we can throw that out the window.
Quite literally it is our biology that makes us human. Humanity is just applied morality, it's nothing particularly brilliant.
Quite literally it is our biology that makes us human. Humanity is just applied morality, it's nothing particularly brilliant.
Incorrect. there is known cases of dogs risking and eve dieing for other dog it was mate with.nikki191 said:
My answer: creativity. we are the only creatures that manage to make a show of apocalypse.
Not so on topic answer: intrusion. We are the only species that instead of getting used to environment makes environment used to us. We are the only species that evolved into humanoids on this earth (because chance of humanoid aliens exist).
I guess the question is, what makes humans unique from other animals? I mean, a dog has similar characteristics to what we humans do. Two eyes, a mouth, a nose, a brain. He'll get angry if you taunt him, excited if you play with him, he'll whimper if you're cruel to him. We both respond to stimuli, we both long for food and sex and recreation. The only difference I can find that doesn't seem superficial is that our brains are equipped to handle a given situation differently, more or less.
I was with my friend the other day, and we were walking his dog, talking, whatever. All of the sudden, his dog and another dog get into it, barking and growling and shit. They'd have probably really gone at each other if they weren't on leashes. It reminded me of when I saw two guys in school get into a fight. They both puffed themselves up, yelled, and the tension was high. On a base level, I always knew that humans were really animals, but it was only when I made that connection did I truly understand that, to quote George Carlin, we're barely out of the fuckin' jungle.
In a way, most of the things that humans do which we consider "civilized" are only really just things all animals do, articulated. If we're angry at someone, we bicker and argue and fight, instead of just growl. We have cities and towns and states; packs and flocks are for oh so lowly animals.
The difference is a matter, perhaps, of reflection. I mean, we have our base needs (food, sleep, shelter), humans and other animals all. I suppose it's whatever we do beyond that which makes us human. We, or at least some of us, ponder our situation, our place in the universe, the condition of mankind; we question when life begins, what it truly is to be alive in the first place, and what happens after we die--I guess as a natural byproduct of having brains equipped to plan and problem solve.
I was with my friend the other day, and we were walking his dog, talking, whatever. All of the sudden, his dog and another dog get into it, barking and growling and shit. They'd have probably really gone at each other if they weren't on leashes. It reminded me of when I saw two guys in school get into a fight. They both puffed themselves up, yelled, and the tension was high. On a base level, I always knew that humans were really animals, but it was only when I made that connection did I truly understand that, to quote George Carlin, we're barely out of the fuckin' jungle.
In a way, most of the things that humans do which we consider "civilized" are only really just things all animals do, articulated. If we're angry at someone, we bicker and argue and fight, instead of just growl. We have cities and towns and states; packs and flocks are for oh so lowly animals.
The difference is a matter, perhaps, of reflection. I mean, we have our base needs (food, sleep, shelter), humans and other animals all. I suppose it's whatever we do beyond that which makes us human. We, or at least some of us, ponder our situation, our place in the universe, the condition of mankind; we question when life begins, what it truly is to be alive in the first place, and what happens after we die--I guess as a natural byproduct of having brains equipped to plan and problem solve.
I like you.Dread Skavos said:
well i guess i should be clearer. without sex.rollerfox88 said:
Keatsian was the word i used, experience beyond which a sense of physicality can comprehend.
homosexuality is not beyond physicality, swans explained.
love is beyond the physical, no animal can comprehend this that is why love is uniquely human.
