Are Humans Animals?

[marksiwel]

I work with animals, while explaining something to a customer, I said "... people are just animals after all, thats why Blah blah blah and blah blah blah are the same". A Co-Worker overhead me and she said "People arent Animals!" then came a 15 minute conversation when I wanted to put my fist through a wall.

Basically I said
Humans are Mammals, we are organisms, we are animals

Her argument
We have Emotions, and we are smart.

You can be the angriest smartest dolphin in the world but you are still an animal

[SwimFan85]

Cyborgs are animals + minerals.

[marksiwel]

Cyborgs are animals + minerals.

[Baba Brad]

We're animals. Thinking, talking, building animals. WIth opposeable thumbs Baby!!

But, in the end, we are animals. Look at Haiti, Katrina and Rita. Look at any college after it's won some big (not) important sporting event.

[jordanmills]

Actually, I think the average american is a vegetable...

[TLE2]

Of course we're physically animals: mammals, hominid, homo sapiens. Sometimes emotionally and behaviorally, we act "like animals".

The differential is in the presence of an everlasting soul. Which is a religious question, not a scientific one.

[bpet]

I just love those kind of discussions.

When you're finished, you know you won the argument even though you also know you will never convince the other party they are wrong. Kinda like town hall meetings with congressional reps. Those who choose not to listen are doomed never to know. Too bad!

[casingpoint]

I was an animal once, but the old lady says it wore off a long time ago.

[5thGenTexan]

We're animals - some of us are just trained better than others.

"Coming, dear...."

The ones in DC are just totally wild ones that defy domestication for the most part.

[tomc]

Casual observation of what our society has become makes one wonder why anyone would think we are not animals!!!!!

[lancermit]

Well, when classifying organisms, humans are in the kingdom "Animalia". That would seem to say that humans are 'animals'.

A little clarification from Wikipedia:

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animal (meaning with soul, from anima, soul). In everyday colloquial usage, the word usually refers to non-human animals.[1] Frequently only closer relatives of humans such as vertebrates or mammals are meant in colloquial use.[citation needed] The biological definition of the word refers to all members of the Kingdom Animalia including humans.[2]

This line of discussion is along the same line as "does your pet go to heaven after it dies?"

Yea, I'd have wanted to punch a wall, too!

[marksiwel]

This line of discussion is along the same line as "does your pet go to heaven after it dies?"

[Keith B]

This line of discussion is along the same line as "does your pet go to heaven after it dies?"

This will not be discussed here as it leads into a religious debate which is against the rules for this section.

[7075-T7]

I've had a conversation like that before, I think the people who belive that humans aren't "animals" have a need to be superior to the surrounding fauna, and since they're classified as animals, then "we" can't be animals either. We're meat, just like every other animal.

And don't get me started on the people that think humans are the only animals with emotions or are intelligent.

Here's how I see the intelligence breakdown

people on this forum > normal people > my cat > my mother in law > trees > rocks > Anti's