The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

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Steve3007
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The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

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?
PoeticUniverse
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by PoeticUniverse »

And the Denisovians, too. We mated with all of them and so have some of their features. We also prevent offspring by using birth control.
Tegularius
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Tegularius »

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?
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.

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
The earth has a skin and that skin has diseases; one of its diseases is called man ... Nietzsche
Steve3007
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

Tegularius wrote:
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?
I don't think so; that comparison is too long ago to allow us a sense of exceptionalism.
What comparison are you referring to here?

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.
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.
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.
Steve3007
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

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.
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.
Steve3007
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

I think one thing that is interesting to consider as a thought experiment is what would happen to various ethical debates if those extinct hominids re-appeared, or had never died out.

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.
Tegularius
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Tegularius »

Steve3007 wrote: September 23rd, 2021, 4:32 am
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.
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.
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!
The earth has a skin and that skin has diseases; one of its diseases is called man ... Nietzsche
GE Morton
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by GE Morton »

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?
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.
GE Morton
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by GE Morton »

Your link is not accessible outside of Canada.
Steve3007
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

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.
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.

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.
Steve3007
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Re: The contribution of the extinction of other hominids to human exceptionalism

Post by Steve3007 »

PoeticUniverse wrote:...We also prevent offspring by using birth control.
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.
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