Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

evanstiegel's picture

human superiority

I'm still stuck on the notion of whether we as humans are superior to other forms of life.  To answer this I looked up superior in a dictionary and there were many definitions all of which were along the lines of being higher in station or importance or being above average in excellence.  I now think that the idea of superiority was created from the human race's inert competitiveness.  No one form of life is superior to another because life is cyclical.  One form of life relies on another form of life to survive and that form of life relies on a seperate form of life to survive.  Somewhere down the line this process comes full circle therefore neither one of these life forms is superior to the other.  Humans feel they have to label themselves as superior over other species just as members of one race feel they have to be superior to another or one religion is superior to another, etc.  This notion of superiority is pertinent in so many facets of human life.  I feel that this humanistic quality of superiority is a result of the bipartite brain.  We have come up with a story to explain our presence and meaning in the world.  In order to for a human to explain their meaning and worth in the world, superiority is often the first play this human goes.  A superior person has more meaning and purpose in the world as opposed to a person who is not superior which is this idea of superiority is so prevalent in our lives. 

Whether or not humans are more complex than other organisms is a completely different story.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
11 + 4 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.