Donna Haraway's Analysis
The relation, as defined by Donna Haraway in the Companion Species Manifesto, is the “smallest unit of analysis and the relation is about significant otherness at every scale” (Haraway 24). The ideal relation between two companion species, a term that Haraway describes for “bodies that matter” or equal species in a mutualistic relationship, prominently relies on the notion where neither species is a whole or a part (Haraway 6). To Zygmunt Bauman, a sociologist known for his work of Modernity and the Holocaust, this will never be achieved unless the species barrier, a “non-universal universe of moral obligations based on the putative human need to draw boundary lines and become involved in guarding those boundaries” is eradicated (Yates PT 1:
…show more content…
From a religious perspective, some argue that early Christian views created the first sense of human-nonhuman divisions with the claims that men and women could not be animals since humans are the image of ‘God’. However, according to Linnaeus’ taxonomy and later confirmed and elaborated by Darwin, there was acknowledgment that humans were animals. Richard Ryder, a member of the Oxford Group, which is centered on animal rights, claimed the “full awareness of our kinship with other animals was ‘intermittent’ and became “discouraged by the Church” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). Moreover, the Church explained that ‘God’ said himself in the Bible to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Aitken). Thus began “Man’s ‘dominionism’ over and above creation” and human supremacy is favored (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). From a philosophical perspective, many philosophers can claim that human supremacy is justifiable. Francis Bacon, a 17th century philosopher, declared, “Man was at the center of the world” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). He continued to argue that if it was not for human control of the natural world, “all would go astray” because there would be “no purpose” and “no aim” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). Rene Descartes, another great thinker, also believed in human exceptionalism. He supported his claim by cutting both nonhumans and humans, and saw that each contained blood vessels, organs, tissues, etc. He concluded that the reason non-humans differed from humans is that they lack thought (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of
From a religious perspective, some argue that early Christian views created the first sense of human-nonhuman divisions with the claims that men and women could not be animals since humans are the image of ‘God’. However, according to Linnaeus’ taxonomy and later confirmed and elaborated by Darwin, there was acknowledgment that humans were animals. Richard Ryder, a member of the Oxford Group, which is centered on animal rights, claimed the “full awareness of our kinship with other animals was ‘intermittent’ and became “discouraged by the Church” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). Moreover, the Church explained that ‘God’ said himself in the Bible to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Aitken). Thus began “Man’s ‘dominionism’ over and above creation” and human supremacy is favored (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). From a philosophical perspective, many philosophers can claim that human supremacy is justifiable. Francis Bacon, a 17th century philosopher, declared, “Man was at the center of the world” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). He continued to argue that if it was not for human control of the natural world, “all would go astray” because there would be “no purpose” and “no aim” (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of The Species Barrier). Rene Descartes, another great thinker, also believed in human exceptionalism. He supported his claim by cutting both nonhumans and humans, and saw that each contained blood vessels, organs, tissues, etc. He concluded that the reason non-humans differed from humans is that they lack thought (Yates PT 1: Human Supremacy: Constructing the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ Sides of