Do we have the right to consider human beings as more valuable than other life forms?

Question

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Answer 1

tricky

what is valuable?

in markets, what is scarcer, and desireable, tends to have higher value. diamonds. the tongues of some singing birds were a supreme delicacy for the Romans, and very expensive - today they would still be rare, but there is no market that i'm aware of

are human beings rare? Not really, actually in many instances it feels that there are sometimes too many of them ;-)

on this metric many animal species would be more "valuable". whales. rhinos. elephants. tigers. lions.

are human beings desireable? not really. many people will feel sorry if a whale is killed, but won't think about it for a second if a fellow human being dies in a drive by shooting.


are human beings more evolved, then? On many dimensions they seem to be able to do many more things than any (other) animal. It is that complexity dimension that would set humans as more evolved (rather than more "valuable").

on the other hand, Stephen J Gould has often argued that higher complexity in Evolution was an accident, rather than "the summit of the pyramid". And he has often argued that one could just as well measure the success of a species not by its complexity, but by its "market share" of life. By that measure, bacteria are by far the best adapted, most successful.

Answer 2

The right to do anything or nothing is granted by Humans. When other sentient beings are found, well a commitee could be formed, or a war fought over the right to make rights.
As humans are the only form of beings that seem to have an idea of right and wrong, as it applies to a moment in time, then humans are the deciding factor in this. As a human I do not understand all or much of what rights are applied to me as I oft times have no need of these rights and rarely if ever will be allowed to enact any rights that may or may not apply.

Answer 3

The question posed is in itself a quandry. The right to do anything or nothing is granted by Humans. When other sentient beings are found, well a commitee could be formed, or a war fought over the right to make rights.
As humans are the only form of beings that seem to have an idea of right and wrong, as it applies to a moment in time, then humans are the deciding factor in this. As a human I do not understand all or much of what rights are applied to me as I oft times have no need of these rights and rarely if ever will be allowed to enact any rights that may or may not apply.
Ask Deep Thought, it knows everything.

Answer 4

As a species however no life-form is more important than another,everything in this world has evolved or been put there for a reason and we do not have the right to eradicate any of them without just cause. We are now in the middle of what in the fossil record of the future will look like a mass-extinction and it is.

Answer 5

Most people never even consider this! All of our lives we are in an enviornment where it is assumed that humans are the lords of creation, and can do whatever they desire with the earth, without thought of consequences. This has not been the philosophy of all societies, and is not today, but is being spread by the USA worldwide. It is not a sustainable model: our population cannot increase without bound in a world with finite space, water, and other resources. Either we manage our population and resource use so as to allow the ecosystem to be in balance, or it will be managed for us when we finally wipe out a species that is a vital link in the ecosphere for us. One of the species that we laugh at may be, in some intricate way that we don't dream of, the one whose elimination spells our doom. We operate as wonton bulls in the ecological china shop, and believe that everthing is fine. Lack of reverence for that which gave us life is not a wise modus operandi!

Answer 6

Perhaps we are the highest form of life on earth, certainly we are the only species with free will, and the ability to create, communicate, and live by more than sheer instinct.

As to whether we are more valuable life form would depend on the parameters of where this species lives. Taking the entire universe into consideration it is difficult to imagine that we are alone. Yet even if the universe is full of cognitive, intelligent species, who decided which is more valuable.

At some point in time, mankind and other species in the universe must come to understand that only through peaceful co-operation will there be o more discussion as to whom is more valued.

Answer 7

For the moment I think yes. Really we know so little about other life forms, [animals]. Here is an example of what I mean. Until quite recently, it was believed that because a dolphin has a big brain, it must therefore be highly intelligent. Recent study shows this not to be the case. Yes big brain, but big brain is for hunting only and not for looking beyond the stars as a human might do.
When I was working for abc news at their London bureau back in the 1980s, one of our camermen in Africa took a brand new tv-news camera to the River Nile near where he lived. Here is what he shot. A view of the river showing part of the bank opposite. There appears a small deer/gazelle. It approaches the water's edge to drink. An enormous Nile Crocodile lunges out of the water and grabs the deer. Along the bank, running at full tilt, comes Mrs Hippopotamus, she scares Mr Croc away. The deer is only slightly damaged and can still walk, enough to drink anyway. So, Mrs Hippo turns around and goes back to her wallow further along the bank. Mr Croc returns and this time grabs the deer by the head. Mrs Hippo is furious and returns full gallop and scares Mr Croc away. Poor deer is now dying of head injuries. Mrs Hippo cradles the head of the dying deer in her huge mouth, rocking gently until the deer is quite dead. Mrs Hippo leaves and returns to her wallow. Cam stops recording.
I am not sure, even to this day if any of this was broadcast.

Answer 8

The question posed is in itself a quandry. The right to do anything or nothing is granted by Humans. When other sentient beings are found, well a commitee could be formed, or a war fought over the right to make rights.

Answer 9

According to some people, no. There are monks who will not even kill a bug, they try to deprive other life forms of life as little as possible, and not at all if they can help it. But they eat vegetables, which are deprived of life as soon as they are harvested. So it's all relative.

Other living things die so that we can live every day, sometimes it is intentional, sometimes it is unintentional. We may not have the right to do it, but we do it anyway. I think that each person decides what they feel is right for them to kill or not kill. I will eat a cheeseburger, but won't cut down a tree for Christmas. My son will swat a mosquito, but won't kill a spider. It makes no sense, but that's life.

Answer 10

No because every living thing life is valuable to him! so when God made everything he made us all with feeling, however no life should be more important then any other. and as the old saying goes we the people have the freedom of speech no we don't, if a cop say shut up are you will go to jail that should tell us something right there. but if you tell a bird the same he's going to keep on doing what he's doing!!!!!! think about it. GOD said we shall not kill.

Answer 11

Maybe, at some point, but the way humanity is right now and who many apparently consider the good guys, I'd consider it way down on the list of valuable species.