The Difference of Man and the Difference it Makes (Humans)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Sunday, July 12, 2009, 17:09 (5611 days ago) @ xeno6696

Almost done with chapter six. - Adler has gone to great lengths discussing the fossil evidence and the great lengths that paleoanthropologists go in finding the differences between Homo sapiens and our other ancestors. He also begins to make a distinction between "brute" animals and ourselves. However--politically I lean towards Machiavelli and Hobbes, and tend to think that basic law and order is maintained through fear. - As hinted at earlier I'm fairly well convinced of our difference--really I was holding some inconsistent views similar to some other evolutionary biologists. - Though I still don't see why this means we can't apply animal observations to our own. When man loses his reason he still acts the brute. Most murders are crimes of passion--and its very difficult not to consider an evolutionary basis for such behavior. The same goes for rape. I don't go to the extreme to consider men automata, but I do think its folly to say that there's nothing about animal behavior that can't explain or have impact on men. Lets not forget that classical and operant conditioning works just as well on men as on rats. - Still moving along though. His use of language itself is fun to read...