Tonight the concept was posed to me that while the Torah (and Bible) contains strict law forbidding the harm or torture of any animal, human beings are still considered above them. According to this Rabbi, although animals could display many if not most of the same emotions as humans, their inferior intellect means that humans shall always reign supreme. Human beings are special.
I do not agree.
This view point makes several assumptions that are flat out wrong. First, this supposes that some almighty power has made the executive decision that humans be special. But existential biology would emphasize that humans are the result of natural selection. We are the way we are entirely by chance and it might have been any other phylum of animal that made this ascent towards intellect. Furthermore, all animals in existence are a result of natural selection. Not just humans. This means that each species is perfect in and of itself. And even if one assumes that some higher power exists, then she must have been perfectly content with each creature she created. Each one uniquely different from the next. Each one perfect. Each one special.
Now this view point also assumes that humans are special because they were made in God's image, while other species were not. More specifically, this view assumes that being made in God's image is a positive thing. It may not be. God is a lone wolf. She has no meaningful relationships to speak of, frequent mood swings, and temper tantrums. And yet, she is a cocky bastard. She believes herself to be the greatest power in the universe, and asks us to worship her. And she has the audacity to create billions of beings "just like her"- arrogant, self-centered, and ignorant of their own insignificance. A wise man once told me that I should not believe everything I read. Well I read in the Bible that God is all-powerful, and that myself- along with the rest of the human populace- was made in her image. In all likeliness, this is not a good thing.
And a person who claims humans are greater than all other species due to our intellect is also assuming that our intellect is greater than that of any other animal. I don't really buy into this either. There are things animals understand and communicate with one another that humans couldn't possibly comprehend. Have you ever been to a greyhound convention? These dogs are abused, starved, and forced to race to survive for years of their lives. And when you attend a convention for dogs rescued from these horrid conditions: silence. Greyhounds do not bark at one another. Not at all. They do not need any sort of verbalization to communicate, and are thusly much more advanced than many of the humans I know, who for some reason cannot express themselves even with the entire English dictionary at their disposal. Elephants have better memory spans than humans. Octopi can navigate mazes and trick their handlers to steal fish. Squirrels are able to hide food in numerous locations, then retrieve it months later. Dolphins have their own language and use tools in their natural environment. Chimpanzees can learn sign language, and exhibit levels of empathy I've seen lack in many humans. Animals are a hell of a lot smarter than we think.
So perhaps before asserting that human beings are the center of the universe, we should reassess whether humans could even be considered the most important living beings on this planet. We shouldn't believe everything we read.
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