My Position to Other Animals
“We might be different from other animals, but that certainly doesn’t make us exceptional.”
I see humans as animals. Sometimes, when I walk through Oosterpark in Amsterdam, one of my favorite activities is to zoom out and observe. I often chuckle when I see people intensely working out: wearing tight clothes, voluntarily lifting heavy objects back and forth, vigorously swinging on designated pull-up bars, and analyzing their progress through the lens of their phones. I can’t help but think it’s amusing that some people believe we’re fundamentally different from other animals. To me, this is exactly the same behavior as that of a howler monkey loudly trying to attract a mate or a bird meticulously building a nest to impress a potential partner. Yet, some people argue that humans hold a superior position compared to other animals, primarily because of our cognitive abilities. I don’t see it that way. In my opinion, it all depends on what your benchmark is. If cognitive capacity is the standard by which we measure exceptionalism, then yes, we’re quite special. But we lack the ability, for instance, that orcas possess – to experience a collective emotion instinctively. I am certain of this, especially when I sit on a crowded train and see everyone glued to their phones; despite standing shoulder to shoulder, they couldn’t be more emotionally distant from each other. If experiencing collective emotions were the standard, we’d be at the bottom of the hierarchy.
So yes, we might be different from other animals, but that certainly doesn’t make us exceptional. And it especially doesn’t give us the right to make decisions about other life forms or to completely deny the value of certain organisms. Who do we think we are, to place ourselves on such a high pedestal that we believe it’s up to us to decide whether something has value or not?
Ultimately, we cannot attribute our success on this planet solely to ourselves. Humans are, in large part, composed of other organisms, such as bacteria. Without a symbiotic relationship with these essential life forms, we wouldn’t even be able to digest food as we do now. This process of digestion allows us to extract crucial nutrients that are essential for brain function and, by extension, our cognitive abilities. This interplay with our environment once again demonstrates that we are part of a greater whole, engaging in various interactions with both our internal and external environments, just like every other object on this earth.
Sometimes, when I walk through a busy place, I can’t help but laugh. I wonder, what are we all so busy with? If we truly recognized that we are animals, perhaps we’d make life a bit easier for ourselves. All those complex social constructs we’re constantly dealing with would fade into the simplicity of merely living. This thought takes me to a more spiritual perspective, which I will explore in the next section.