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Animals vs humans essay
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Humans that act like animals that like humans
“Men are dogs.” “Don’t be a chicken.” “She is sneaky like a snake.” These are common idioms that are spoken today among our society, but one question is comes to mind. Are humans and animals more similar than we think? Some would declare the only difference between human and animals is that animals lack verbal communication. According to Jill McCorkle’s book, Creatures of Habit, she explains the variations of similar characteristics between both, humans and animals. McCorkle uses sociobiology to develop her story titles in connection with the animal counterparts. According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, “sociobiology” is defined as “the study of the evolution of social behavior in all organisms, including human beings.” By using sociobiology, this gives the reader a better insight on the connection between humans and animals. Throughout my essay, I will select several short stories and illustrate the similar characteristic between humans and animals.
The short story entitled “Dogs,” there is the...
To start, research shows that there are a striking number of similarities between humans and chimpanzees in context to their social behavior.
Broad, K.D, J.P Curley, and E.B Keverne. "Mother–infant Bonding and the Evolution of Mammalian Social Relationships." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Royal Society, 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Throughout many literary works, authors use animals or their behaviour to mimic or represent ideas in order to signify certain aspects of the characters and setting. In the tragic play of Macbeth, William Shakespeare successfully uses animal imagery as a prominent symbol to foresee upcoming events as well to portray Macbeth's growing guilty conscience. Thus, Shakespeare effectively employs animal imagery as a symbol in order to reinforce and highlight Macbeth’s mental deterioration in this tragic play.
Addiction is something that may seem inevitable, but at the end it’s entirely the fault of a person who is addicted. In the article, “the power of habit” by Charles Duhigg, it states how Angie Bachmann became addicted to gambling and how it was entirely her fault because she kept accepting the offers from casinos and many other reasons. Both the casino and Angie knew what they were doing by Angie letting herself get into the situation and the casino encouraging it. She started out as a well-settled housewife. When everybody left the house, she ended up all alone without having much to do. Because of this, one day, as she was passing through the streets, she decided to visit a casino for a change. “She knew gambling could lead to trouble, so
Many people assume that science is persistently correct in numerous ways because of its research and innovation provided in today’s society. However, in the stories The Harvest and Going written by Amy Hempel, the author compares the distraught characters to scorpion like tendencies to attest that humans resemble animals, unreasonably more than science text books have lead us to believe. Conversely, it has become common today to dismiss this argument due to Hempel’s intricate writing style.
In his lecture, primatologist Robert Sapolsky explains the uniqueness of humans as well as our similarities to other primates. In doing so, he broke it down into six points of interest: aggression, theory of mind, the golden rule, empathy, pleasure in anticipation and gratification postponement, and lastly, culture. Professor Sapolsky approaches each point with interesting fact-based examples thus allowing me to gain insight on humans and other primates. Sapolsky’s knowledge of primates along with his scientific background allows him to make a clear argument that one cannot simply ignore.
This book presents the relationship between human and animal behaviors and the behavior that is now created by our modern day society. The mind has two main parts. There is the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is the better half, yet it is potentially threatening; therefore, the conscious mind is aware at all times. The unconscious mind influences your behavior in many ways. Pi experiences both of these minds. Pi is consciously planning his survival and how he was going to spend his food, so he didn’t run out. His conscious mind contributed to Pi surviving at sea. Consequently, when Pi`s father fed a goat to a tiger to prove a point, he was unaware that this event changed his personality brutally. He became more
Quiatt, D., & Reynolds, V. (1993). Primate behaviour: information, social knowledge, and the evolution of culture. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press].
B.M.de Waal, Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Social Evolution. Havard University Press: Massachusets, 2001.
An example for the social construction of animals in real life is snakes. In various historical
A habit of mind is a way of thinking that one acquires over time. It is a type of thought that involves thinking beyond what society considers right or wrong, but acknowledging through complex thought, what is morally right. It is not easily achieved and is somewhat like a muscle, in that you have to build it up over time through intellectual work and hardship. Not everyone can achieve a strong habit of mind, in fact most don’t. The habit is a way of thinking that allows one to communicate with knowledge when the answer is not initially apparent. In order to think in this complex manner a person has to be well educated in all subjects of intelligence. Having a good education goes hand in hand with having good habits of mind, because in order to have positive functioning habits, a person has to be well rounded enough to considered every possible solution to the problems or questions posed. Being able to use a habit of mind also requires a type of thinking where others nor any outside force constrains any ideas or solutions . This by definition is a habit of mind.
The article, “The Power of Habit” (chapter 9), by Charles Duhigg, is about Angie Bachmann who was addicted to gambling. It all started one day when she felt so lonely that she decided to go out and play in the nearest casino. Angie started by setting rules just so she would not become addicted. As days went by Angie slowly started to break her rules and gambled more than what she should of have. Angie lost a lot of money. Although, Harrah’s casino would send her free stuff and vacation trips to get Angie to play more. Angie realized that she had a problem with gambling and went away for a time, but she went back to Harrah’s casino when her parents inherit her money. Angie lost all the money that she inherited and started to get loans
The comparative method is a species that can be studied and compared to the search of understanding human behavior. The physiological outlook elucidate the performance of how the nervous system and hormones reacts to the body, what precedent of the transformations in the structure can affect one’s behavior, and how the brain operates. For example, when a cardiologist operate on someone’s heart. He has the expectation of extending that individual's life (Thomas Spray). Another comparative method utilized is the investigation of inheritance. This technique engages a species inheriting genes from its parents. For instance, when the offspring with dark skin complexion begat blue eyes this trait is hereditary. Each of these biological aspects consisting of the comparative, physiological and the genetic systems explicates human behavior. This dissertation will focus on the brain, the nervous system, and the ways in which these physiological mechanisms interrelate.
" Society & Animals 18.2 (2010): 183-203. Academic Search Premier -. EBSCO. Web. The Web. The Web.
Although their minds are not as advanced as a human's, animals are still capable of thought. Frans de Waal, author of "The Whole Animal", feels that humans and animals are closely related, through anthropomorphism. I agree with anthropomorphism, but not with anthropodenial. I also disagree with Rene Descartes' statement that animals are machines, because just as humans have different individual personalities, animals of the same species also have different behavioral characteristics. For example, some cats are arrogant and rude, while others are kind and playful, just like people. Georgia, the chimpanzee who spit water on unsuspecting visitors, did not do this out of instinct. Instinct would have told her to swallow the water.