IMO you can be 'human' without being a homo sapien. I think of 'being human' as a concept. It means a species has crossed an admittedly subjective line of self-awareness, cognitive ability and empathy.
The more we learn about Cetaceans such as dolphins the more it appears all but certain that they exceed even us in all these categories. They are self-aware, they have culture, they have language, they have empathy, they form tight family bonds. The only area where they fall short is tool use... which is hard when you lack hands.
Some critics of 'The Cove' claim that western horror at the Japanese atrocity depicted in the documentary is cultural... that we have no right to criticize them as we slaughter cattle by the tens of millions. That's BS. Without getting into a vegan debate it should be clear that not all animals are equal in their capacity to suffer or understand mortality.
If it's clear beyond any reasonable doubt that another animal is our equal in nearly every way do we have an ethical obligation to show them the same level of respect that we would another human? Should it be a requirement to be genetically homo sapien to be granted the concept of 'being human'?
From any ethical perspective dolphins are 'people'. It's an arbitrary line but dolphins are clearly way... way... WAY beyond it. It might be subjective what's a hill and what's a mountain but Everest is clearly a mountain and dolphins are 'human' that happen to lack the genetic code of homo sapien. I've read the reviews... I know 'The Cove' is a great documentary... I'm pretty sure it would be too upsetting... am I wrong?
The more we learn about Cetaceans such as dolphins the more it appears all but certain that they exceed even us in all these categories. They are self-aware, they have culture, they have language, they have empathy, they form tight family bonds. The only area where they fall short is tool use... which is hard when you lack hands.
Some critics of 'The Cove' claim that western horror at the Japanese atrocity depicted in the documentary is cultural... that we have no right to criticize them as we slaughter cattle by the tens of millions. That's BS. Without getting into a vegan debate it should be clear that not all animals are equal in their capacity to suffer or understand mortality.
If it's clear beyond any reasonable doubt that another animal is our equal in nearly every way do we have an ethical obligation to show them the same level of respect that we would another human? Should it be a requirement to be genetically homo sapien to be granted the concept of 'being human'?
From any ethical perspective dolphins are 'people'. It's an arbitrary line but dolphins are clearly way... way... WAY beyond it. It might be subjective what's a hill and what's a mountain but Everest is clearly a mountain and dolphins are 'human' that happen to lack the genetic code of homo sapien. I've read the reviews... I know 'The Cove' is a great documentary... I'm pretty sure it would be too upsetting... am I wrong?
