Would you agree that Man is the highest form of Animal?

Question

I love this quote.

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. by William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

Answer 1

NO were made lower than the angels

Answer 2

No I would not agree. One of my favorite quotes:

"He that will not be merciful to his beast is a beast himself." Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

Considering how in our modern society animals are treated like disposable hunks of meat or "inventory". Factory farms are where 90% of American's meat comes from. Consider animal abuse is rarely punished and those few conviced usually get off with a few hundred dollar fine and maybe a few animals siezed.... but we know there is a definite correlation between people who abuse animals and those who abuse children (or spouses or others).

We start wars over things we don't need. We think it's fun to take crack, get DUIs, and commit violent crimes. It's become cool to be "gansta".

We are the lowest of the low in the animal world. We are the only animal who knows better but still chooses violence anyway.

Answer 3

Man isnt the only "Animal" that weeps. Certain primates have been known to cry out of emotion, and all animals use tears. We aren't Animals, but we are our own species and kingdom, because GOD chose us as the prime people. Also, dont rely on research that was done more than one hundred years ago.

Answer 4

Being the highest form of animal brings the highest form of responsibility and sometimes we don't measure up. Yes, we laugh and weep but we also kill for no reason and waste our precious resources.

Answer 5

Man is first of all not animal.
But we are the highest form of life.I mean obviously.Animals do not have technology and other such things, and they cannot even really appreciate beauty.When is the last time you saw a bunch of cows on top of a hill enjoying a sunset and marveling at its beauty?

Answer 6

Hm, actually I disagree. Things would go on if humans disappeared, they might even go better. No more pollution, no more manipulation and war and slaughter. But every creature contributes something to their environments, humans just do so much more than a mouse or another animal. They eat, reproduce, die. Humans entertain themselves in between but the story line is the same. We all die. "Death is the great equalizer."

We are advanced yes, but we are nothing without the rest of the world.

Answer 7

Your use of the term, highest, leave lots of room for different interpretations. If you mean the species with the greatest brain power, definitely yes!

Answer 8

Actually, elephants have been known to weep. However, man is the only animal capable of reason... Not that all men elect to use this gift...

Answer 9

Not at all. I love This quotation:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied—not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

Answer 10

We are certainly the dominant species. I don't know that it makes us the highest form.

Hazlitt, of course, is wrong. Communications with chimps and gorillas using sign language has taught us that other animals are capable of the kinds of contemplation that he thinks is reserved for men.

Answer 11

have to aggree with the first answer. we as humans only use 10% of our brain and are willing to go to war over a belief. man is by far not the higest form of animal.