Mark Twain's Essay 'The Damned Human Race'
Argumentative Essay
All throughout known history humans have always been the most dominate and distinguished animal. Humans are and have been constantly learning, thinking, and deciding based on what they belief is right, wrong, or neither. This unique behavior is caused by a unique ability called moral sense, which is what enables a human to know when something is cruel and when something is kind. In the essay by Mark Twain called “The Damned Human Race,” he claims that it is our (the humans) everyday meanness, unkindness, and cruelties that make us the “lowest animal.” Humans are not the “lowest animal” because of our everyday meanness, unkindness, and cruelties. Humans are the “lowest animal” because they have a rational mind to understand …show more content…
Matthew Boyle of Harvard University puts it this way in his article, Essentially Rational Animals, saying that “Other animals . . . are capable of sensation and appetite, but they are not capable of thought, the kind of activity characteristic of the rational part of the soul” (1). No animal known of possesses a rational mind that understands morality or the significance of it. Animals choose to do things because of their instincts, they don’t choose to do something on whether it is right or wrong, because they can’t. They base their actions on their instincts. This absence of a rational mind makes as well as their lack of moral limitations on their actions makes animals “higher animals” than humans. If an animal feels threatened there is no rational reason stopping it from trying to destroy that threat. If a human feels threatened he or she contemplates the situation and decides what to do by their using their rational mind.
A strong objection is that animals can develop a rational mind, and would therefore be able to understand morality. This would bring about the argument that humans are not the “lowest animal” because any animal can become just like humans. Since animals can be trained to follow their set of instructions, they can also be instructed how to think in a rational way. Therefore, any animal should be able to learn morality, if they have the brain
All throughout known history humans have always been the most dominate and distinguished animal. Humans are and have been constantly learning, thinking, and deciding based on what they belief is right, wrong, or neither. This unique behavior is caused by a unique ability called moral sense, which is what enables a human to know when something is cruel and when something is kind. In the essay by Mark Twain called “The Damned Human Race,” he claims that it is our (the humans) everyday meanness, unkindness, and cruelties that make us the “lowest animal.” Humans are not the “lowest animal” because of our everyday meanness, unkindness, and cruelties. Humans are the “lowest animal” because they have a rational mind to understand …show more content…
Matthew Boyle of Harvard University puts it this way in his article, Essentially Rational Animals, saying that “Other animals . . . are capable of sensation and appetite, but they are not capable of thought, the kind of activity characteristic of the rational part of the soul” (1). No animal known of possesses a rational mind that understands morality or the significance of it. Animals choose to do things because of their instincts, they don’t choose to do something on whether it is right or wrong, because they can’t. They base their actions on their instincts. This absence of a rational mind makes as well as their lack of moral limitations on their actions makes animals “higher animals” than humans. If an animal feels threatened there is no rational reason stopping it from trying to destroy that threat. If a human feels threatened he or she contemplates the situation and decides what to do by their using their rational mind.
A strong objection is that animals can develop a rational mind, and would therefore be able to understand morality. This would bring about the argument that humans are not the “lowest animal” because any animal can become just like humans. Since animals can be trained to follow their set of instructions, they can also be instructed how to think in a rational way. Therefore, any animal should be able to learn morality, if they have the brain