Miscellany (General)

by David Turell , Sunday, September 19, 2021, 16:14 (951 days ago) @ dhw

Opossums

dhw: The authors wrote: “We now have solid evidence of culture, morality, rationality, and even rudimentary forms of linguistic communication.” Our body form and our brains can also be traced back to our animal ancestors. In that sense we are NOT exceptional. But the degree to which we have developed our brains, our culture, our morality, our rationality and our language do make us exceptional.

DAVID: So you agree we are exceptional.

dhw: I’ve just said so. […] I am calling for a balanced view, so why have you picked on only one part of the balance?

DAVID: Not balanced. Yes we have animal bodies, but our bodies can make exceptional moves (gymnastics) and our brains are extraordinary. Stop diminishing the differences.

dhw: How can I be diminishing the differences when I say that the degree of development etc. makes us exceptional? You only want to point out the differences, while I point out the similarities and the differences. You need two things to balance, and you only want to focus on one.

Your comparisons tend to diminish the differences.