Agenda for a New America
Part One
The Politics of Vegetarianism
By Vasu Murti
Chapter 3 - Reasoning Ability

What separates humans from the other animals? Psychologist Paul Chance
struggles with this problem in the January 1988 issue of Psychology
Today. The ancient Greeks considered man "the rational animal." Recent
studies prove animals do many of the same things we consider evidence
of reasoning ability. Chimpanzees, for example, can solve puzzles on
their own, in much the same way as humans, and will even do it for no
other reward than the mere satisfaction of having done it.

Does creativity set us apart from nature? Porpoises can be trained not
just to perform tricks, but to invent tricks of their own. Making
tools? Animal behaviorist Jane Goodall observed wild Chimpanzees use
toolmaking in obtaining food. Language? Two psychologists in Nevada
taught a chimp named Washoe the sign language of the deaf. Not Only
did Washoe learn hundreds of signs, he used them in new ways to
express new ideas. Sign language has been taught to other chimpanzees
and to gorillas and orangutans as well.

The negative traits of humanity have also been observed in the animal
kingdom. humans may rape, murder and go to war with greater efficiency
and intellectual prowess than other species, but these are not
uniquely human acts. Male apes have been seen forcing themselves upon
unwilling females of their kind.

Apes have been known to attack and kill members of their own tribe, as
well as outsiders, sometimes for trivial reasons. Goodall has even
observed organized battles between rival troops of chimpanzees that
can accurately be called wars.

Dr. Chance suggests that it is the human quest to find a quality which
separates us from the rest of creation which really appears to set us
apart. We are the only creature struggling to find its identity, the
only creature asking, "How am I different from all the other
creatures?" Beyond survival, eating, sleeping, mating and basic bodily
maintenance, humans seek to knew their origin, the past, the universe
around them and the future. Only we humans ask such questions and
appear to have any interest in the answers.

As far as everyday ethics are concerned, there are no morally relevant
differences between humans ant the rest of animal kingdom. The one
quality which distinguishes humans from other species appears to be
spiritual: man's desire to find his place in the universe, his
relationship with God. This is irrelevant as far as the oppression,
enslavement, torment and annihilation of creatures like ourselves is
concerned. If anything, the theistic position of "human dominion"
remands that humans show greater justice and mercy towards animals. As
far as suffering is concerned, the animals are our equals.

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