Why do people think humans are superior to animals?
First of all, let me make it clear that I agree with you 100%. Given that there are only two things that differentiate humans from animals, plants, rocks, dirt, etc. which are: 1) only humans destroy, and 2) only humans make & wear clothes; I would say that we don't have a lot of material for bragging rights. Bizarrely enough, one of the foundations of the "Humans Are Superior" movement is Christian religion; for Man was set to rule and reign in the Garden of Eden over everything on the Earth... obviously because he was the best qualified candidate for the job? This is the same reasoning which I use to set young children above nearly all adults, myself included. They are innocent. They don't have hidden agendas. They freely express genuine love. Unfortunately, their parents are often humans and the path for them to become evil & destructive is set before them BY EXAMPLE. Given enough time, Mother Nature should be able to clean out this infection called humanity. And she is going to win in the end.
Why do vegans and vegetarians feel superior to people who eat animals?
I’ll admit that I often feel superior about this. It’s usually when some asshole is telling me about our carnivore teeth.First, vegans have a lot to be proud of. It’s not an easy diet. It can take a lot of willpower to avoid the convenient, tasty animal products that flood our culture. Many non-vegans just don’t get it, and are very open with their skepticism. Veganism can be downright offensive to some people; have you ever told your grandma and her roast beef “no thanks” for ideological reasons? It can be tough, but vegans deal with an often uncomfortable diet that tests their resolve.More importantly, many are vegan because they know it’s just a solid moral choice. They know how hideous the meat and dairy industries are. They know the incredible environmental damage those industries inflict on the world. They know how animal products degrade the human body, wasting millions of lives with unnecessary conditions like heart disease. Many of us see a world full of senseless animal suffering, greenhouse gas pollution, and preventable illness - with animal diets to blame for most of it. I simply can’t understand a non-vegan’s ability to participate in this crap; the dietary myths, societal traditions, and blatant self-indulgence seem so bankrupt.So, many vegans sustain a tough diet to do their ethical part, to make the world just a little better. And they often do so in the face of others’ misconceptions, ignorance, and cultural hang-ups. Honestly, it’s not surprising that we can feel superior.
Why do some people think animals are inferior to humans even when they won't last a day in an African jungle?
A - judging from some answers I've seen here... I'm putting money on the rabbit. This question is insane. I know people who wouldn't survive a day without help in forest of the Cascade mountains but that doesn't make them inferior to animals. I wouldn't survive a day in my wife's place of work. I'd tell the nasty bittys she works with to drop dead and be fired within an hour or two. I guess that makes me inferior to my wife. Okay that's open for debate but then my wife wouldn't have lasted a day working in the foundry either. I can't express to you how filled with disgust I am at questions like this. I can only believe that either you are too high to think straight or you've been so brainwashed by our school system as to make you unfit yourself to survive if you were dropped anywhere outside your comfort zone.
Why do many religious people think humans are not animals?
If by religious, you mean a Christian, then yes, Christians believe humans are made in God’s image which gives us a separate status from the rest of the animal kingdom. While we share some attributes with some animals, we have a host of abilities that no other animal has in common with us. We are in a class of our own.Here are a just a few of the things that demarcate our uniqueness in the biosphere:1. Our architecture and ability to creatively design; there is no one prescription for what we build. We are only limited by our creative imagination and present technology.2. Our ability to use fire to make things which in turn are used to make other things; for example glass to make windows for our houses3. Human language and writing How Human Language Is Different From Animal Communication4. We walk uprightly5. Our judicial system; our ability to judge between right and wrong6. The fact that we make clothing to cover ourselves7. We cook our food and come up with amazing recipes8. We have funerals and do not leave human remains to 'fend for themselves’.9. Art and Music10. We study our world and have institutions of learning11. We are cognizant of our mortality12. We are the ones that run the zoosAnd so on…Some people, both religious and non religious, classify humans as animals and are somehow offended when a person asserts that humans are not animals. I have to say that I can't understand why. It seems an obvious fact that we are not animals. What we do with that fact is what really matters in the end.
Do you think humans are superior to all animals? Why or why not?
The basic differences between humans and animals are: Form and Nature, we share life, and intelligence. Sometimes even sexuality, I just saw on Face book a Lion profoundly in love with a woman, embracing and kissing her through the iron bars of the wall. But, even if this phenomenon were currant in the past, and still happening, let's not be too romantic.Form determined by Nature, or may be chance and time develops like a car in something functional, Nature is what makes an animal move, while a car can not.No man can smell like a dog or fight like a tiger. A little fly knows what she wants and how to avoid being killed. I am sure that you have seen solutions found by animals that men couldn't. I have a personal experience that I am going to tell you. I had, since three months a beautiful little dog, that I loved very much. I had a business and since he was very friendly, I couldn't keep him away from the people that were scared of him. So I put him in a big cage 6X4 that I had found when I moved in the basement. I had verified the cage and I was sure that there was no way out. So I close him there and I go upstairs. Within 30 seconds he was out of the cage and very happy to be with me. The light in the basement was not very strong so I took a flash light and examined the cage thoroughly and I couldn't find any point throw which he could pass, so I put him back in the cage and I went upstairs. No longer than before, 30 seconds, and there he was very proud of himself for his regained freedom. Again I went in the basement asking myself, are you stupid or blind? So I verified all the vertical bars and I found one that was a bit loose. That was his escape root that he had found in few seconds and that took me much longer to discover. I have profound love for such animals and I consider only just to call them brother.The form of our body is extraordinary and we can do better, all together, than most animals, that are specialized. Yet if you take away from humanity the capacity to speak and to write, you take away from man 95% of his hyperbolic capacity that go to his brain. Michel Di Sclafani
Why do some/most people tend to think humans are superior to animals and plants?
Because humans are superior to plants and (other) animals. It's a judgment call, but it's our judgment call to make—human society, that is. Our perspective prevails by default, and our perspective is that we're superior. Plants and other animals haven't voiced their disagreement, which is not surprising considering they lack true language, and, to the best of our knowledge anyway, the intellectual equipment to participate in any meaningful way in a debate, which is quite unlike humans.There are those who say that believing humans are superior is specesist. Well, what's wrong with specesism? "Specesism" is just a scare word. When you look back on the recent history of the world, that is, since roughly the French Revolution, it's remarkable how almost all of what we generally consider advancements in morality have involved the more systematic application of the principle of humanism, which is just specesism as applied to humans: the concept of human rights, the universal brotherhood of man, extending the franchise, women's suffrage, decolonization, humane treatment of prisoners, rights for the handicapped and disabled, etc. Even in recent years, we'd have to argue down some opponents of same-sex marriage who believed it would lead to bestiality by pointing out that animals can't sign a marriage license.It doesn't matter if this is one's own personal belief or not. This is the foundation of modern society. Democracy is about people-power, after all, not flower power. If the birds and the bees were allowed equal votes on things, this wouldn't really be plants, birds, and beasts voting. It'd be their legally recognized guardians, and these legally appointed guardians would have disproportionate influence over the political process. Their role would be no different from that of priest representing and speaking for gods (who, like plants and non-human animals, also aren't available to state their demands in person).We believe that humans are superior to plants and non-human animals because we're obligated to set priorities, which requires believing that something are superior to some other things, and this is the configuration that best minimizes hierarchy, dominance, and power, at least of the sort that humans by and large consider unethical.Of course, I'm willing to change my mind, and I will, if plants or animals ever start demanding equal rights for themselves.