The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
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The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
We don't know for sure why there is now only one species of the genus homo on the planet, but has this very recently formed gap between us and our relatives been partly responsible for our sense of exceptionalism? It is a common thread in human culture to regard ourselves as fundamentally different from the rest of the animal kingdom (and often to not even acknowledge our membership of that kingdom). Would things be different if we could more clearly see the continuum between us and other animals? Would all kinds of debates, such as the debate over the abortion of single-celled human embryos while we happily kill fully grown examples of other species, be different?
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
I don't think so; that comparison is too long ago to allow us a sense of exceptionalism. It's the scriptural accounts which have granted us that dubious distinction, inculcating the view that we're both separate and superior to the rest of creation. Only very recently have we discovered other hominids having once existed. Up to then, we weren't aware of any other kind, which never impeded our sense of superiority, even against other historical contemporaries we denigrated as being inferior for whatever reason we found convenient.Steve3007 wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2021, 10:56 am The study of fossil and anthropological records suggests that until somewhere around 40,000 years ago we were not the only species of hominids on the planet. Evidence suggests that there were several others. Most famous are perhaps homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis. They were far more closely related to us than our closest extant relatives (chimps and bonobos) from whom we split around 7 million years ago.
We don't know for sure why there is now only one species of the genus homo on the planet, but has this very recently formed gap between us and our relatives been partly responsible for our sense of exceptionalism? It is a common thread in human culture to regard ourselves as fundamentally different from the rest of the animal kingdom (and often to not even acknowledge our membership of that kingdom). Would things be different if we could more clearly see the continuum between us and other animals? Would all kinds of debates, such as the debate over the abortion of single-celled human embryos while we happily kill fully grown examples of other species, be different?
The Neanderthal saga is very enlightening compared to what we thought we knew about them, causing most of our connotations of exceptionalism to evaporate.
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/the-nature-of- ... mp=sch-nea
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
What comparison are you referring to here?Tegularius wrote:I don't think so; that comparison is too long ago to allow us a sense of exceptionalism.Steve3007 wrote:We don't know for sure why there is now only one species of the genus homo on the planet, but has this very recently formed gap between us and our relatives been partly responsible for our sense of exceptionalism?
As I said, my point was that the large gap between us and our nearest extant relatives could be part of what gives us this sense of exceptionalism. That doesn't require us to know why that large gap exists, even if we have found out why recently. It just requires the gap to exist.
The scriptural accounts seem to me at least as much a symptom as a cause. I propose that our sense of exceptionalism, caused in part by that large gap, is what leads us to create various mythologies which write that sense of exceptionalism down, call that writing "scripture" and thereby give it a sense of authority. So the mythologies that are written down, with that writing sometimes referred to as scripture, certainly lend the exceptionalism an air of authority and objective, universal truth. But I'd say that they aren't its original cause.It's the scriptural accounts which have granted us that dubious distinction, inculcating the view that we're both separate and superior to the rest of creation.
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
I agree that the actual evidence we have about the characteristics of Homo Neanderthals and, for example, the evidence that there was some interbreeding between Neanderthals and Sapiens in interesting and enlightening. I agree that arguably it should cause most of our connotations of exceptionalism to evaporate. But I doubt whether it will. I don't think tens of thousands of years of conditioning, solidified by the resultant mythologies that we've embedded into our cultures, are so easily changed.Tegularius wrote:The Neanderthal saga is very enlightening compared to what we thought we knew about them, causing most of our connotations of exceptionalism to evaporate.
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
I think debates over things like abortion and the eating of meat are interesting to consider in a world where there is not such a large gap between us and our nearest extant relatives. For any given gap it's possible that a species could exist in that gap. There's no physical reason why it shouldn't. So it's possible that there could have been an almost continuous range of species between, say, us and cows. We'd then have to draw a more-or-less arbitrary line on that species continuum and declare something like:
"It is permissible to farm and eat everything on this side of the line and it is abhorrent to do so to everything on the other side of the line."
The large species gap that obtains in reality masks this arbitrary nature of our moral positions on issues like this and allows us to pretend that there is something more solidly based in publicly verifiable empirical fact - more objective - about them.
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
True, but that mindset has consequences! Error is habitual in humans and most often overrides whatever truth or fact comes to light if it infringes on their accepted dogma. Error, as it conforms to the status quo, is what immediately gains acceptance; truth has always been an uphill battle. It won't be long before we pay dearly for a distinction which hardly ever manages to correct itself. The most exceptional thing about humans, they have created thought infrastructures and systems while forcing nature into a subordinate role. Nietzsche called man a sick animal; he couldn't have known how sick!Steve3007 wrote: ↑September 23rd, 2021, 4:32 amI agree that the actual evidence we have about the characteristics of Homo Neanderthals and, for example, the evidence that there was some interbreeding between Neanderthals and Sapiens in interesting and enlightening. I agree that arguably it should cause most of our connotations of exceptionalism to evaporate. But I doubt whether it will. I don't think tens of thousands of years of conditioning, solidified by the resultant mythologies that we've embedded into our cultures, are so easily changed.Tegularius wrote:The Neanderthal saga is very enlightening compared to what we thought we knew about them, causing most of our connotations of exceptionalism to evaporate.
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
I suspect had the other species in the genus homo survived, there would still be a gap, but we wouldn't be alone on our side of it.Steve3007 wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2021, 10:56 am The study of fossil and anthropological records suggests that until somewhere around 40,000 years ago we were not the only species of hominids on the planet. Evidence suggests that there were several others. Most famous are perhaps homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis. They were far more closely related to us than our closest extant relatives (chimps and bonobos) from whom we split around 7 million years ago.
We don't know for sure why there is now only one species of the genus homo on the planet, but has this very recently formed gap between us and our relatives been partly responsible for our sense of exceptionalism? It is a common thread in human culture to regard ourselves as fundamentally different from the rest of the animal kingdom (and often to not even acknowledge our membership of that kingdom). Would things be different if we could more clearly see the continuum between us and other animals? Would all kinds of debates, such as the debate over the abortion of single-celled human embryos while we happily kill fully grown examples of other species, be different?
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
Your link is not accessible outside of Canada.Tegularius wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2021, 7:00 pm
https://gem.cbc.ca/media/the-nature-of- ... mp=sch-nea
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
I agree that so long as the concept of species is meaningful there is a gap between species. And if the genetic distance between us and homo erectus, homo neanderthalensis, et al, was very close compared to our distance from extant relatives like chimps, then yes, we might have a situation where we're one of a close cluster of species - a bit like the "local group" of galaxies - separated by a relatively large genetic gap from the nearest other cluster of species.GE Morton wrote:I suspect had the other species in the genus homo survived, there would still be a gap, but we wouldn't be alone on our side of it.
My wider point though was to consider the concept of species in general. For any gap between two species it's possible that another species could fill that gap. That's why I think it's accurate to talk of species as a continuum, or at least a quasi-continuum. So there could potentially have been a continuum of species between us and any other species. As I said, I think it's interesting to look at some of the standard ethical debates in that light.
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism
This is true, but it's not generally regarded as an ethical issue on the same scale as abortion. The "every sperm is sacred" view is much rarer than the "every embryo is sacred" view.PoeticUniverse wrote:...We also prevent offspring by using birth control.
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