Humans and Animals:
The Philosophical Background of our Current Relationship
Three Tuesdays, April 7, 14, and 21, 1:00–2:30 P.M.
Compass Bank Building, Second Floor, 2001 Kirby at San Felipe
Animals have now been shown to possess the rudiments of language and tool making. They have emotional complexity, and they share almost all the DNA of humans. John Zammito will examine the origins of our conceptions of “human” versus “animal” and will explore how, in the light of emergent scientific findings, humankind’s relationship with other animals might change.
April 7: How Different, After All?
The striking thing about recent work in life science is that virtually every categorical distinction between humans and animals has been blurred or erased. And yet, we still find it deeply disturbing to acknowledge fully our kinship with animals even as we face fundamental philosophical and ethical issues of defining just how different we really are. E. O. Wilson has contended that humans can and should be understood as driven by genes in ways not significantly different from animals; at the same time, he has argued that humans uniquely feel a distinct and vital concern for other animal life forms, named “Biophilia.” In this first lecture Dr. Zammito will delve into the question of how we got to this complex and even paradoxical situation relative to the other animals of this planet.
April 14: If Animals Are Machines, Why Aren't We? From Descartes to Vitalism and Back
As part of the “Scientific Revolution,” the pioneering philosopher and scientific theorist Rene Descartes suggested that animals could be understood completely as machines, but that humans were definitively separate from them by virtue of reason and language. In this session, Professor Zammito will discuss how life scientists, from Descartes forward, sought to come to terms with this “mechanistic” conception of animal life forms and with the putative distinction of humans.
April 21: Systems Biology, Self-Organization and Immanent Teleology
More recently, the realm of life science – and perhaps of sciences more generally—has recognized that complex systems have emerged which cannot be explained by the particular laws of physics and chemistry. This non-reductionist science suggests that mechanism is no longer the only model of science. Conversely, the genetic revolution and the advances that have been made in ethology and developmental evolution have led us to recognize far vaster complexity in other life forms and their far richer kinships with humans. Dr. Zammito will distinguish between the two options: demeaning man to “mere” animal, or recognizing animals are participating in the emergent world of humans and worthy of our care because they are our kind.
John Zammito is the John Antony Weir Professor of History at Rice University, where he has twice received the George R. Brown Award for Excellence in Teaching. His current research focuses on the history and philosophy of science.
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