From: ra-AT-alor.univ-montp3.fr (Ronald Creagh, Moderator, Research on Anarchism List)
Date: 29 Jan 1997 10:22:05 UTC   (06:22:05 AM in author's locale)
To: RA-L-AT-bred.univ-montp3.fr

>From: Dave Coull <D.Y.COULL-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Organization: Dundee University
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 13:53:46 GMT

>Harald Beyer-Arnesen wrote:
>In fact human beings is the only species on this earth that given the
>opportunity would NOT exterminate all other species, or ever consider
>that other species have "rights".
Well I think it's probably true that humans are the only species
which could consider the possibility of other species having
"rights", for the simple reason that other higher species such
as the Killer Whale or the Chimpanzee don't have vocal chords
like ours, and therefore even if they're brainy they can't "talk"
except in a fairly rudementary way, and, without the development
of a complex language, an abstract idea like "rights" can't exist.
However, I don't agree with the statement " human beings
is the only species on this earth that given the opportunity
would NOT exterminate all other species". There is no evidence
that most plants and animals are mass exterminators by instinct.
In fact, having learned a bit about ecosystems from studying
environmental science here at Dundee university, I would say
that, whether they understand what they are doing or not, most
species only take from the environment what is necessary for
their their own survival, and any species which is excessively
destructive is probably endangering its own survival. Therefore
evolution tends to favour species which do NOT seek
to exterminate. But even if other species may instinctively
follow this rule, it takes a human being to figure out that's
what they are doing. So I would say that human beings are
the only species which has come to consciously think of itself
as having a responsibility for other species and for the environment
as a whole. And about time too !

Dave

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Moderator/Moderador/Moderateur : Ronald Creagh
Co-Moderator : John P. Clark
e-mail : rcreagh-AT-alor.univ-montp3.fr
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