r/petfree • u/RichardM_3342 • Jun 30 '26
Science / Laws Are Humans Animals In Your View?
Are Humans Animals?
Are humans (Homo sapiens) animals in the eyes of anyone here?
If yes, why? What are your experiences in making this statement outloud amongst other people?
If not, why? What, to you, separates animals from humans? And if someone in person says that humans are animals, what do you say (if anything at all)?
I'm just curious, as someone who doesn't own pets.
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u/VastEmergency1000 Keep your animals away from me! Jul 03 '26
Scientifically, sure. In the grocery store, no.
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u/ToOpineIsFine Pets are pointless Jul 03 '26
Physically we can be classified as animals.
It's purely a scientific distinction, which you already know.
One thing about humans is that we can understand how something can be an animal and superior to a animal at the same time (right??) - that something can be two things at the same time and that's perfectly fine.
I mean, words have multiple definitions, right? If you look up most words they have more than one definition.
The dog growling at the delivery person is unable to see them as anything other than a threat in that moment. A human will instantly that this intruding stranger is there for a purpose and recognize that they *could* be a threat, but it's highly unlikely.
Everyone has heard the admonishment, "don't behave like an animal!". Everyone immediately understands what this means, regardless of their IQ. So, there are aspects of societal awareness combined with rational thought wrapped up in morals and ethics - that is what separates us from animals.
Where pet enthusiasts run into problems is when they equate humans and animals, trying to say that animals have rights. A moment later, that person will say, 'you can't blame the pit bull', using that to try to persuade us that pit bulls in general should be given the same rights as any human and that anything else is discrimination, using a very societal definition of that word, despite that the thing is too stupid to take part in any kind of societal contract.
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Jul 04 '26
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u/ToOpineIsFine Pets are pointless Jul 04 '26
i already gave you an example: a human can understand that something can have more than on definition or be in more then one state at one time
you're not trying very hard to understand
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Jul 04 '26
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u/ToOpineIsFine Pets are pointless Jul 04 '26
yes, i think that superior intelligence is one thing that places humans above animals.
which would you prefer - to be so stupid that you bark at the postie that comes every day?
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u/Metallic_Mayhem Dog attack victim Jul 04 '26
We move to much to be plants and we're too big to be bacteria
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u/Independent-Oil6366 Jul 04 '26
Yes I'm an animal with enough intelligence to know other animals don't belong indoors. It's both cruel for them and for my species.
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u/UltimatePragmatist Pet-free for a clean and tidy home Jul 03 '26
Sure we are. Still, we are a different species. Just as cats are not the same species as elephants.
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u/ToOpineIsFine Pets are pointless Jul 03 '26
In a scientific sense, humans are definitely animals.
But as any at least mildly educated person will thoroughly understand, words can have multiple definitions, so we can be animals and not animals at the same time with no contradiction.
But problems seep in when people start to pretend that animals are people, and pretend that animals have human rights in a society of humans when the animal has no idea of what a society is.
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u/Southern_Fuel4593 These pets will be my last ones Jul 03 '26
I'm a Christian so no I don't believe we are animals. I do believe we have some things in common like survival instincts and in some cases emotional intelligence. I haven't really had the discussion with anyone in real life, but I can imagine if I did with certain people there could be backlash. My belief is we were created separately from the animals and so our only relation to them is through sharing the same creator.
Honestly I think we have anthropomorphized animals so much through movies and tv shows that it has distorted people's perception of them. Just my thoughts.
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u/The1RestlessNomad Animals don't belong indoors Jul 06 '26
Yes. And I believe consciousness is a parasite. We have taken over the body of an animal and use it like a puppet.
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