Actually, I agree with the comment. Respect has to be earned. "Human" is just an arbitrary classification. Why should that earn you respect?
Well, "human" is not an arbitrary classification -- any more than "monkey", "cat", "dog", or "seahorse".
Personally I think that all sentient beings deserve respect as a first position. Although it is certainly possible by one's actions to dis-earn. And incidentally, not being human ought not to be a path to automatic disrespect, either.
-- yet another example of "didn't write quite what I wanted to say" so I hope this makes some semblance of sense. --
Louise18, having thought about some of the things you said, here's where I see a problem.
1. If you were to have a fall or a crash tomorrow and sustain a brain injury (Touch wood, hopefully it won't happen. But it could.) does this mean that others around you should respect you less? Because that is the logical conclusion to the argument that those of lesser intellectual ability are less deserving of respect.
2. The surest way not to deserve the respect of others is to disrespect them. And the surest way to prove yourself unworthy of respect is to believe yourself superior. How can you expect to deserve the respect or admiration of those whom you merely "tolerate"? But if you run that same logic, what of those who - by extension - only tolerate you?
Mutual respect is a much better place to start.
All sentient beings deserve respect (As a first option). That includes every animal, regardless of species. We know very little about the consciousness of others. But as for the argument of anthropomorphism, I don't know for sure that any other person who uses this forum has what I would recognise as consciousness. I just assume it. Why? Because other people in the world are not automatons. They make decisions -- just as cats, dogs, chimpanzees and dolphins make decisions.
This free will -- if nothing else -- would seem to suggest a level of conscious thought.
Perhaps a student's tutors are better than at some things, but that does not make others less worthy of respect than they are. Tutors and teachers (or should I say, any tutor who is worth anything) do not disrespect their students -- regardless of whether they think their students are better or worse at any particular subject than they are.
We cannot assume to know everything about parrot awareness, because it cannot really be tested. It can only be assumed, in the same way that I can only assume that people around me are conscious beings.
I don't see what the issue is with describing levels of thinking in relation to other levels. Some creatures and individuals are cleverer than others and this should be reflected in the sliding scale of respect that is given to them. People are not all made equal. Some people are just better than others overall.
and I don't see anything wrong with reflecting that
THere is noone who is better than others OVERALL. Evereybody has strengths and weaknesses.
It is simply not possible to make all people exactly equal overall. And some strengths/weaknesses are more important than others.
I had a cat I had to give away in 1999. The bird called my cat (named Missy, Muffin, and Chop-Chop successively), Psycho Kitty.
That's cool.
I also love the story of Koko the chimpanzee, who adopted a kitten she called All Ball. (Koko spoke Ameslan - American Sign Language)
Another chimpanzee (or maybe this was Koko as well - I can't remember) did a pee on the experimenter's shoulder. When asked "Why did you do that?" she replied, "It's funny"
What does make the brain special for you? Why brain? Brain is just of the organs, just like an arm is.
My brain seems to be one of the only organs in my body that works sometimes.
...and some started to get impatient with those humans who were less fluent than they were.
Actually the earliest experiments did try to teach chimpanzees verbal language. They found that the problems weren't with learning words, but chimpanzees do not have the physical adaptations in their vocal chords that allow them to make enough distinct sounds for language.
WARNING
Hostile atmosphere seem to be present
Thanks, Erkolos.
We can get a little tired of reading other people's personal attacks against each other sometimes.
[quote]Animals kill other animals for food. The do not kill out of pleasure.
Animals also kill other animals for the sake of competition. Many species (among them, lions etc) are known for killing the young of rival males once they make a conquest over a new pride. One animal will also kill the young of a rival animal, or a predator, given the opportunity. And yes they also do so for fun. Not just for food.
I am an oxonian Law student. I am positively *** at Maths and Science, and consider anyone studying either of these at a good university to be my superior, at least on the scale of what they potentially have to offer society. As far as scientific achievement is concerned, finding out what does not work still increases human knowledge, which is more important than the transient happiness of individuals who will disappear without a mark in history of their existence.
No, obviously not. I have argued that academic achievement is necessary for an individual to be worth something. Not that it is sufficient.
It is certainly possible for hanus acts to negate a person's value.