Are humans higher life forms than animals?

[Joe Biden 2020]

Absolutely.  Humans were created in the image of God, animals were not.

[Beet]

But what does it mean to be created in the image of God? Does that mean God has nipples?

[Blue3]

I believe animals also have eternal souls, which will be treated by God the same way God treats children who die young.

[afleitch]

Yes, but only by our own standards. Dolphins may find the whole idea hilarious.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

But what does it mean to be created in the image of God? Does that mean God has nipples?

I always interpreted that in a more spiritual sense.  It is impossible, of course, for any mortal being to appropriately conceive God in any way beyond the human experience or understanding of logic and reality.  Plus, if God is omnipresent, then clearly the phrase wasn't meant to be interpreted literally.

To answer the OP: that would all depend on what you mean by "higher."  If you're trying to establish a hierarchy based on intelligence or degrees of free will, then yes, humans are "higher" life forms than animals.

[Sbane]

No. The only logical answer is no.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes.

[Sbane]

I guess humans do run less on instinct than most other animals, but why should that make us superior? Those animals have their own evolutionary traits that make them successful, and we have ours.

Are even if we go by intelligence, orcas are a very intelligent species. They can devise new strategies to hunt, thus not relying on instinct. The rest of the great apes are extremely intelligent as well.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Humans are organisms that have found their own evolutionary niche. To identify that niche as being superior to another niche is somewhat presumptuous and anthropocentric.

[John Dibble]

We are animals. As a species we have evolved a level of intelligence unsurpassed by any other organism on this planet, but even so we are still animals and share our ancestry with those other organisms. We are better are certain things because of our intelligence, and that aids in our survival and propagation. But that doesn't make us higher - in evolution there is no such concept. It isn't a ladder where organisms strive to become a certain thing. There are only those that succeed in surviving and passing on their genes and those that die and go extinct. It is quite probable our species will be outlived by simple bacteria, so to claim that we're higher is arrogance.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Yes (Normal), but why did you create this thread?

[Insula Dei]

I guess humans do run less on instinct than most other animals, but why should that make us superior? Those animals have their own evolutionary traits that make them successful, and we have ours.

Are even if we go by intelligence, orcas are a very intelligent species. They can devise new strategies to hunt, thus not relying on instinct. The rest of the great apes are extremely intelligent as well.

None of the Great Apes ever wrote the works of Shakespeare.

Oh wait-

[afleitch]

I guess humans do run less on instinct than most other animals, but why should that make us superior? Those animals have their own evolutionary traits that make them successful, and we have ours.

Are even if we go by intelligence, orcas are a very intelligent species. They can devise new strategies to hunt, thus not relying on instinct. The rest of the great apes are extremely intelligent as well.

None of the Great Apes ever wrote the works of Shakespeare.

Oh wait-

Neither have tribes in the Amazon. 'All they've done is paint with their fingers and make sharp sticks.' Be very careful with that line of reasoning.

[Insula Dei]

I guess humans do run less on instinct than most other animals, but why should that make us superior? Those animals have their own evolutionary traits that make them successful, and we have ours.

Are even if we go by intelligence, orcas are a very intelligent species. They can devise new strategies to hunt, thus not relying on instinct. The rest of the great apes are extremely intelligent as well.

None of the Great Apes ever wrote the works of Shakespeare.

Oh wait-

Neither have tribes in the Amazon. 'All they've done is paint with their fingers and make sharp sticks.' Be very careful with that line of reasoning.

'Tribes in the Amazon' have accomplished great things, culturally speaking. Think of the Song Lines of the Australian natives. A thousand Illiads mapping the landscape, bringing the vast empty spaces to life etc. etc.

The gap between the animal and the human is there. The mere fact of language creates an unbridgeable divide.

[Sbane]

I don see why having language makes you a superior species.

[afleitch]

I guess humans do run less on instinct than most other animals, but why should that make us superior? Those animals have their own evolutionary traits that make them successful, and we have ours.

Are even if we go by intelligence, orcas are a very intelligent species. They can devise new strategies to hunt, thus not relying on instinct. The rest of the great apes are extremely intelligent as well.

None of the Great Apes ever wrote the works of Shakespeare.

Oh wait-

Neither have tribes in the Amazon. 'All they've done is paint with their fingers and make sharp sticks.' Be very careful with that line of reasoning.

'Tribes in the Amazon' have accomplished great things, culturally speaking. Think of the Song Lines of the Australian natives. A thousand Illiads mapping the landscape, bringing the vast empty spaces to life etc. etc.

The gap between the animal and the human is there. The mere fact of language creates an unbridgeable divide.

What I'm trying to say is we are the ones who are putting the line there. In the past we used to draw lines between the human 'races' as to who was higher and lower. Putting aside the possibility that adult chimps probably have higher cognitive abilities than a four year old human, we cannot assume what the thoughts of animals are. Dolphins may consider themselves higher than we do. How can we prove them wrong? Given that our entire existance is thanks to bacteria that coat every part of our internal and external anatomy, we might consider ourselves a 'higher' life form, but we are entirely dependent on some of the smallest life forms for our very existance.

[Insula Dei]

I don see why having language makes you a superior species.

I didn't use the word 'superior'. I just said there's a qualitative difference.

At any rate, my original post in this thread is much improved when you realize I thought you were memphis.

[minionofmidas]

Depends. Higher than insectivores, lower than aardvarks and ungulates. Arguably.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I don see why having language makes you a superior species.

Language gives us the ability to utilize knowledge well beyond each individual's personal experience in both time and space.

[John Dibble]

I don see why having language makes you a superior species.

Language gives us the ability to utilize knowledge well beyond each individual's personal experience in both time and space.

And being a sperm whale gives you the ability to dive three kilometers below the ocean unaided and devour giant squid. Are they superior to humans because they can do that and we can't?

[Blue3]

Nonhumans can understand human language, even if they can't speak it. Not just apes either, but also dogs and I believe dolphins, whales, and some parrots.

[Sbane]

I don see why having language makes you a superior species.

Language gives us the ability to utilize knowledge well beyond each individual's personal experience in both time and space.

I still don't see why that makes us a superior species, though it undoubtedly helped our species grow to a population of 7 Billion.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Animals can't think and have no emotions.

Humans are superior.

[John Dibble]

Animals can't think and have no emotions.

While humans tend to have the best problem solving skills there are a number of other species that manage to think of solutions to problems. Additionally many social mammals show emotion, especially apes other than us.

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Lock yourself in a room with a tiger - do you think you can convince the tiger of your superiority while it's eating you?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Our society certainly depends on that assertion. Who cares whether it's actually true or not; and what, exactly, is truth in this kind of context anyway? So, yes, absolutely.