Monday, April 12, 2004

Humans v. Animals. We are (and always have been) told that humans are rational creatures. We think. We imagine. We believe that x is the case when we can justify our belief in x. Our rationality separates us from other creatures, in particular animals. Some investigations and psychological experiments reveal that we reason poorly. We may be rational creatures, but we are poor reasoners. What does this tell us about our supremacy over animals? We can do things they cannot do, but it seems badly mistaken to suppose that this makes us better than animals if we do these things poorly. These worries have led elsewhere, but I will spare the reader (if any) for now.