See Me Talk and Talk and Talk
I gave four hours worth of lectures last weekend at Trinity University Law School in Santa Ana and some kind blogger has posted the first two hours of video here. The blog entry reacting to my presentation, from a blog called "Jus Me Blogging" authored by a Christian disability rights advocate, quite gratified me. Its author wrote in part:
Does life have absolute value simply because it is human? We have to answer that question. We have to. We have to. We have to realize that bioethicists today, SAY NO. We have to become educated, at the very least aware, of what the consequences have been and will be of them saying no! We have to.I quite agree, obviously, and think the author's passion is abundantly warranted. In my talk, I speak about human exceptionalism, eugenics, the Buck v. Bell Supreme Court ruling, personhood theory, and the threat to human rights posed by saying no to the essential question: "Does human life have ultimate value simply and merely because it is human."
Labels: Wesley J. Smith Lecture
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 10:19 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
The lion has no obligation to treat the gazelle properly?
Deriving your logic of "exception" the human has obligation to treat the cow properly? Treat the mouse properly? Im finding your message contradictory to your other topics on animal research. So its ok to kill like the lion as long as we attach some "moral" standard?? based on what?
The elephant doesnt care about the lion eating the zebra... what are you implying??
Seems like youre saying humans care about the lion taking down the zebra? Who are these people that sit about all day concerned with what a lion eats in Africa?
Humans are just as capable of greater immorality as we are capable of greater morality.
Civilized immorality is just as intrinsic and primordially more expressed than moral civilized action in conditions of anarchy.
Social evolution is not the same as "human exceptionality" Animals - pack wolves for instance - realize that altruistic behavior can lead to better feeds than the individual can achieve by selfish acts. This types of social evolution is not exclusive to human exceptionalism.
Furthermore, A dog know it's immoral to poop on the carpet due to conditioning, just a child learns its wrong to steal or fight, due to conditioning.
Human action is more complex but no more exceptional than animals. Animals dont premeditate murder, animals dont plan anniversaries.
Just because humanity is cognitive of morality doesnt mean we are exceptional. Early man beat eachother with sticks and took whatever they wanted.
Evolution of Civilization is what defines our moral code and societies are not exclusive to humanity.
So are humans capable of greater moral/immoral action and cognitive judgement than animals? Yes, I think so.
What is your justification to say humanity is above and beyond importance of other species whom we share the planet with. What is your rational other than we are more cognoscent - which seem a flimsy and irrelevant assertion.
Oil spills, toxic emissions, population expansion, clearcutting of forests have wiped out many species. Humanity has caused more destruction to the earth and life form than all other species combined. Is that what makes us exceptional?
How has humanity served the greater good for all species and the planet?
Humans are exceptional, as just one point, because we are the only species with duties. Indeed, other than being human, what gives us the duty to treat any animal humanely?
Our first duty is to ourselves. We are the only species that intentionally chooses to serve other species. No other species has the capacity to have duties or to act morally or immorally. The fact that you would hold us morally accountable for harming the environment proves that we are exceptional, since no other species could be held so accountable.
I see you share the misanthropy that so permeates the animal rights/radical environmental movements.
Wow, i sit and listen to your speech online, ask a few questions and you accuse me of hating humanity, instead of addressing direct questions
Nice..exceptional even..
Equal respect for all species does not make me a human hater.
So, Ive seen cats and dogs get along quite "humanely". Ive seen a cat clean a dog. Are apes humane when they pick bugs out of there companions hair?
I wouldn't consider it exceptional behavior. Its conditioning.
Animals are capable of many 'duties' (no pun intended) to treat other creatures with respect, sometimes they do, sometimes they dont, just like when you answered my question.
Of course humans should be more accountable for the environment, we have the greatest potential to damage it.
Just because we are at the top of the food chain doesn't mean that rules of nature and physics are any different for us than any other animal.
Human Exceptionality is only something created by your perception of superiority to nature. Even though you have not stated what it is that makes us exceptional, other than we are cognitive, which you obviously dont want to expand on.
It is not my perception, but I guess your entitled to opinion, just like me.
ds: I don't have time to expand on it, but I will have a chapter on it in my new book. Read Mortimer Adler, for example.
"You have not stated what it is that makes us exceptional other than we are cognitive..." Well, since no other known species in the universe is like us in this respect, which makes us exceptional. I said we were moral, no other species is moral in the way we are, either. I said we have duties. No other species has duties. I could add, we are creative, we are capable of stepping outside of nature and bending nature (to some degree) to our will. That's a one and only, also. Pretty exceptional. We are artists. Exceptional. We have language. Exceptional. We have history and project into the future. We read and write. We philosophize. Exceptional. We empathize, not only with our own kind but on behalf of other species. We sacrifice our own wellbeing for other species and the environment, etc.
If being human is not what gives us the obligation to treat animals properly, what does? Only being human does. Exceptional.
You expressed misanthropic sentiments. Along those lines, we are the only species capable of evil. And good. Exceptional.
Hello, Mr. Smith, my name is Julie, aka, Jus Me Bloggin'. (I have two blogs, one here on Blogspot and one on Vox, where you linked to me on this post.) I had mixed feelings while watching your videos.
On one hand, I was excited to see someone speaking about what is happening in the field of bioethics, especially someone like yourself, a person 'of the law' who could possibly do something about these things, if at the very least educate folks about what's happening. I am glad you are there because I don't have the capability of keeping up with it all or the words to explain it all.
On the other hand, of course, I was quite sick about the threat of peoples' very existence, much less dignity, etc. I have so many friends and people in my life with developmental and all sorts of disabilities and illnesses, and euthenasia, eugenics, abortion, doctor assisted suicide, embriyonic stem cell research, cloning, etc.,- they scare the heck out of me.
I am glad you are out there in the 'real' world speaking about this. I feel motivated after watching your lecture and reading your blog to do my part in the church world to exhort us Christ followers to develop relationships with those with disabilities so that they will stop being the abstract 'disabled person' 'out there' 'somewhere' 'suffering' and become, instead, 'the person in my life with value whose rights and PERSONHOOD I want to protect'.
Again, I'm so glad you are fighting this fight. Thank you!
Julie: I feel your pain.
You might want to check out Mark Pickup's blog, that deals with disabilities and life issues from a Christian perspective. Mark has progressive MS and knows about which he speaks.
http://humanlifematters.blogspot.com/
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