Please provide reasoning. Not looking for a "correct" answer, just curious how people view humanity.
2006-07-13 06:58:17 · 10 answers · asked by libertycabbage 1 in Environment
part
2006-07-13 07:02:33 · answer #1 · answered by shiara_blade 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I were an alien biologist from another planet who came to visit I would describe Homo sapiens as a part of the ecology of the planet.
However, all but a tiny minority of human cultures see a clear divide between human and Nature and are aware that they feel that divide; they feel both bad and good about it. For example, when you ask a bunch of people about the naturalness of a series of pictures, a pristine mountain scene with a single human figure in it is not considered natural. As one answerer pointed out, human artifacts of any kind from an empty soda bottle to the Hoover dam "destroy" the pristine naturalness of a place. In this way we see humans as "contaminating" of Nature. On the other hand we do our damnest to keep Nature out of the human realm also - killing whatever turns up where it "doesn't belong" from wolves in rangeland to spiders in the window. In this sense Nature is no longer a perfect realm, but rather a dangerous invader.
So as a species were pretty weird about it. The cultural constructions of Nature have been well documented, although many people don't think about them very much, largely because we are mostly an urban species now. The influence of these constructions can be seen everywhere: wilderness parks, zoos, our gardens, how we raise our children, our art and literature....once you start looking you see it everywhere.
So although most (all?) of the answers may say we are a part of nature, that's a bit of a lie, if a hopeful lie. Despite the evidence, to be really honest, we don't believe we are a part of nature.
To take this a step further, I would argue that the goal of environmentalism should be to destroy this dichotomy between human and Nature. At the moment it works in the opposite direction, still a part of the problem. Oddly enough, since Nature is a cultural construction, for all intents and purposes, this approach means destroying Nature (the capitalization is intentional here). We will only come into a sustainable relationship with nature when we no longer have a word for it.
2006-07-13 09:57:37 · answer #2 · answered by dr. d. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are part of nature because we are living beings. As natural beings, everything we do is inherent to our nature, therefore I don´t think there are any artificial things, not even computers, as they came from the nature of a being ( a human being).
My personal point of view is that the whole universe, everything included is nature, according to that view nothing artificial could belong to this whole.
Spirits and other dimensions also included in the universe of nature.
Humans are only a tiny part of this whole and we are not to be taken as the ultimate big thing, we are as important as a bacteria.
2006-07-13 11:44:16 · answer #3 · answered by Ambar4me 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course humans are a natural part of nature. How could anybody think otherwise? The native Americans say that the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth.
You can get into political trouble by taking this seemingly obvious fact to it's logical extreme. If we are a natural part of Earth, then anything we produce is also a natural part of Earth. I like to say that Hoover dam is not any less natural than a beaver dam. This kind of talk will get the environmentalists all riled up I think.
2006-07-13 07:23:12 · answer #4 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Believe it or not, there is indeed a correct answer to this question. Humans are no less a part of Nature than any other organism on the planet. We are as dependent on Nature as we always were for food, clothing and shelter. Moreover, our impacts on Nature--whether good or bad-- cannot be discounted.
2006-07-13 07:16:49 · answer #5 · answered by James H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are definately a part of nature, we are the only part of nature that is contributing to nature's downfall though. We may have the superior intellect to "control nature" to a certain extent but we are no better in natures eyes then an ant or a whale. Nature was fine before us and will be fine(probably better) after we are all gone.
2006-07-13 15:51:41 · answer #6 · answered by Ryan W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If by humanity you are referring to humans and nature being all matter and energy in the universe, then yes humans are part of nature. Humans are made up of matter and energy and reside in the universe. Things made by humans...part of nature? If it comes from matter and energy in the universe, then it must be part of nature. Good question.
2006-07-13 07:13:00 · answer #7 · answered by askme 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think everyone has their own reality, so for some people humanity is superior to nature, to others it is a complete and interconnected equal. For me, we are equal. We are born and die like everything else in nature. It's the evil of civilization that is trying to make everyone forget that we are nature, not above it.
2006-07-13 18:30:49 · answer #8 · answered by sam 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Part of nature. To think about there is nothing unnatural exist. Everything in this universe is natural and part of nature.
2006-07-13 07:06:24 · answer #9 · answered by Dr M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humanity : An essential part of Mankind's existence which has always been sacrificed on the altar of the Devil
2006-07-13 07:03:19 · answer #10 · answered by ag_iitkgp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋