Does it hurt your self esteem to know that we are "just" animals?

Question

One response to a question I asked indicated that accepting that we are "just another animal" would be of detriment to our self esteem. However, humans are clearly animals. This is a fact of biology. I'm not sure how this would have any bearing on self esteem. Can anyone enlighten me?

[This relates to religion in that many cannot accept the idea that we evolved from an ape-like creature.]

Answer 1

Not at all. But it kind of hurts my self-esteem to share a biological class with humans. I refuse to accept that we share a common ancestor with humans. They're weird, have no fur, and don't even know how to climb trees.

Answer 2

Some people have difficulty accepting that we are animals like the other species out there, but I think you'll find that most people (when asked directly anyway) won't be too insulted.

However, many of the people who think it's fine to know that we are animals still consider themselves superior to every other species out there. A lot of them think "Sure we're animals, but we're special and unique among all of them." They may not see other animals as having emotions (they do), intelligence (they often display cleverness and cunning), or communication (many do)... They certainly don't think animals are smart enough to have a concept of abstract ideas - however we've been frequently surprised by sign-language gorillas who not only understand abstract concepts but can be the first to bring them up.

Of course one species that's smarter than us is the dolphin... We think we're great because we invented cars, cities, smog, weapons, war, and all kinds of modern marvels like 9-5 work schedules and so on while all the dolphins do is muck about playing in the water. Dolphins know they're smarter for the same reasons. Had to make a Hitchhiker reference there. =P

EDIT:
>> "if evolution is true, then why isn't it happening now? why aren't we seeing animals turn into other animals now? why did it stop?"

Man, you are uneducated... Evolution IS happening now! It never stopped. However it takes a VERY LONG TIME. Obviously you can't grasp the hundreds of thousands to millions of years it takes for evolution to occur. Sure it's hard for humans (and our limited perceptions) to comprehend or imagine that much time, it's part of the way our brains are shaped. However the fact remains that over the past thousand years humans have been evolving, we've grown about a foot taller on average and our jaws have been shrinking. I'm 6'2" and if I went back in time to the middle ages they'd see me as a giant with an overbite.

Evolution is very slow, very gradual, incremental steps. It is also a biological fact and none of our modern medicine would exist without it. Now go educate yourself before more people realize how stupid you sound.

Answer 3

evolution was just just a theory that was never proven true. there are many other theories that scientists are looking at that have more of a possibility of happening then evolution.
1. The earth is not billions of years old (thus destroying the possibility of evolution having happened as it is being taught).
2. No animal has ever been observed changing into any fundamentally different kind of animal.
3. No one has ever observed life spontaneously arising from nonliving matter.
4. Matter cannot make itself out of nothing.

scientists have studied millions of frogs and not once did it evolve into another animal. if evolution is true, then why isn't it happening now? why aren't we seeing animals turn into other animals now? why did it stop? so if people ask if i'm offended to be called an animal then i answer wholeheartedly YES! i am NOT an animal! i am a human being created by GOD! i AM not the evolved for of some animal!

Answer 4

This thought is one of reasons for decay of the morals in a society. If you believe you evolved from an animal, then you believe you are no better than an animal, so why not act like one. I'm not trying to paint with a broad brush, I know athiests with high personal moral values. What I am saying is I think you have higher self esteem when you believe that you were created by God, and that He made you in His image. You have been given His attributes and are a special creation, much more than the animals that He also created.

Answer 5

The only way I can relate to that statement is by thinking how it might mean (ore be perceived) that we are just victims of hormones and instincts.

I would imagine that about every 20 seconds, somewhere in the world when a woman gets angry, there's a man or even another woman saying "oh she's just on the rag."

As if we're nothing more than one big fleshy hormone with no higher brain function.

Answer 6

The reason a person may think being Just an animal is not desirable could be the use of the word "just" as in nothing more than....that sounds kind of limiting...not to mention some people equate the term animal as being less than civilized and not intelligent....biologically we are of the animal variety but we are not JUST animals....

Answer 7

We did not evolve from ape like creatures. That is your theory.

People have different definitions of words in their minds. Some people think "f_a_g" is a particularly nasty term. I don't, but, I can be sensitive to the beliefs of others.

"f_a_g" used to be slang for a cigarette, as in "got a f_a_g?" now it is something else.

That means if I hear someone use the term "f_a_g" I do not instantly think of them as a bigot, I just assume that they do not understand how offensive the word is to some people. If someone uses it to deliberately offend someone that would be a different story.

The same thing can be said of the term "animal". The word has different meanings to different people. When you use it I assume that you are not trying to be offensive.

Other people may take offense at it because they have a different idea of what the term "animal" means. "You're just an animal!"

The United States is a free nation. You are welcome to be as insensitive to the ideas or opinions of others as you would like to be.

Answer 8

Humanity, since the dawn of its self-awareness and the ability to critically think beyond the immediate, has had an issue of ego.

It isn't that surprising.
An intrinsic feeling of superior self-worth is an inherant aspect of the dominant... and since we are a dominant species on this planet, it is only natural for humanity initially to have brought with that the typical "alpha species" ego....

This translates to a feeling of superiority over other species.

The addition of more complex reason to the mix has since allowed us to realise that we are not inherantly superior to other species at all, but rather that we have different advantages and disadvantages in that respect.

Some people have less control over their instinct than others however. Many find it difficult to accept the word of reason over the feeling given to them by their instinct.... the fact that they can impose their will on other species leads them to believe themselves inherantly superior.



The answer to the problem lies in throwing the egocentric human into shark-infested waters and then asking them if they feel superior.

Answer 9

It actually makes me feel better to know that we are "just animals." After all, humans are destroying the earth. Animals are more innocent. They are neutral creatures that just go about their lives.

Try asking the animal rights activists if they think it is detrimental to your self-esteem to believe that we are all animals.







Besides, everyone knows that cats rule over people. I think it's better to be more like a cat than a human. ;-)

Answer 10

No. All life (well except maybe those nasty parasites) have beauty. And humans are a particularly wonderful animal. We are the only animal on Earth that has evolved to contemplate our cosmos.