Human Animal Quotes

“Human societies have been trying to shape the behavior of their members for thousands of years. That is the main purpose of law, religion and education.”
― David Layzer, Cosmogenesis: The Growth of Order in the Universe

“I have argued that when we encounter other humans we experience them first as persons, and cannot help but do so. This means that in order to see a human person as an animal or organism we must abstract from the totality of our experience. My suggestion is that we take this fact seriously in understanding the ontology of everyday objects. According to this proposal a “human animal” or “human organism” is not a thing in its own right, but rather a particular perspective we take on ourselves and our lives, one that attends only to our purely biological functions.”
― Marya Schechtman, Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life

“The true beauty of the human animal is nowhere as evident as in its acts of creative expression.”
― Ezra Claytan Daniels, Upgrade Soul

“Dank dieser und ähnlicher Tricks und Ausflüchte überstand das Hobbes'sche Tier im Menschen die moderne Sittenreform unbeschadet und intakt, in seiner ursprünglichen und potenten, kruden, ungehobelten, flegel- und rüpelhaften Form, die der Zivilisationsprozess zwar zu übertünchen und/ oder (wie bei der Verschiebung aggressiven Handelns vom Schlachtfeld ins Fußballstadion) 'outzusourcen', die er aber nicht zu zähmen, geschweige denn auszutreiben vermochte. Das Tier in uns liegt auf der Lauer, bereit, unter der erschreckend dünnen Tünche konventionellen Anstands hervorzubrechen - deren Zweck es lediglich ist, das Unansehnliche zu verbergen, und weniger, das Sinistre und Blutrünstige zu unterdrücken und wegzuschließen.”
― Zygmunt Bauman, Retrotopia

“We attach such importance to verbal communication that we lose track of what our bodies say about us.”
― Frans de Waal, Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

“What do we need to believe to love nature, and so, by implication, human nature?”
― Adam Phillips, Darwin's Worms: On Life Stories and Death Stories

“What do we need to believe in order to love nature, and so, by implication, human nature?”
― Adam Phillips, Darwin's Worms: On Life Stories and Death Stories