Talk:Just another species

Seen at Wikipedia

I saw this exact article on Wikipedia, it was about to be deleted because it wasn't appropriate for an encyclopedia, and because it only has quotes and no content. I don't think we should recreate it here. Also, the quotes are pretty much unrelated to each other or to the concept of humans as "just another species"; they are clearly meant to be applied in a scientific context, not in a moral one. In the scientific sense, humans are just animals with brains and body processes, just like everything else in the animal kingdom, but that isn't relevant to religious or moral matters. RachelW 12:08, 19 January 2012 (EST)

I brought it here so people can help me improve it. For example, is it really a "scientific" view that humans are just animals with brains and body processes, just like everything else in the animal kingdom? Or is that view common only in, say, the field of biology? --Ed Poor ^Talk 12:33, 19 January 2012 (EST)

Most fields of science have no views on man's place among the other forms of life on this planet. The question is outside of the scope of most areas of science. Why wouldn't the view of biology be enough when talking about humans from a medical point of view, as both your quotes state?

Obviously, you don't view humans as "just another species" in the moral sense, and neither do I. I think that is a harmful belief when it is applied philosophically or morally. However, on the physical level, our bodies obey all of the same scientific laws that other animals do and operate in much the same way as other animals. It would be inappropriate for scientists to treat humans as something fundamentally separate from the animals when in the course of scientific research.RachelW 12:44, 19 January 2012 (EST)

Well, of course it makes sense to describe the human body in terms of vertebrates and mammals. But biologists and other scientists often take this too far.

By the way, I'm thinking of putting your last sentence into the body of the article. --Ed Poor ^Talk 12:50, 19 January 2012 (EST)

Ooh, Thank you Mr.Poor! RachelW 12:52, 19 January 2012 (EST)