_Rogue Primate_, by John A. Livingston

Livingston, John A., Rogue Primate. Toronto, Ontario: Key Porter
Books, 1994.

"Give a lower animal a 'self', and before you know it, some
ideological subversive will want to give it a soul." p.98 "Few
exercises in rationalization have involved quite so much intellectual
pretzel-bending as has the task of demonstrating absolute human
uniqueness. Our obsession with this is revealing. It's not enough that
every individual, and every species, is a unique, one-time-only event.
Fanatical humanism demands more. All species are unique, we may
acknowledge, but one species is uniquely unique." p.100 "Washoe was
'self-aware'. This was flabbergasting. And for many people it was
deeply unsettling. We seemed to be witnessing the collapse of the last
bastion of human uniqueness. Something had to be done about
Washoe.Human brows furrowed in thought. Then came the answer. Of
course! How blindingly obvious! Washoe was not aware that she was self-
aware. One could almost feel the collective sigh of relief. We could
not know this, of course, but it was fundamental to the shoring-up of
the collective self-esteem that we assert." pp.101-102 "By far the
most penetrating -- merciless -- analysis of humanistic ideology has
been that of David Ehrenfeld [in The Arrogance of Humanism]." p.139
"The clear assumption is that Nature owes us. It is Nature's appointed
task -- its reason for being -- to maintain and nourish the human
project. Nature was provided to serve the Chosen Species. That is the
received cultural and historical wisdom that sustains such madness as
'sustainable development'." p.185 "'Evil' is a formidable word, but
not an extreme one. If, after all, life diversity is manifestly good
in an absolute sense, then its wanton spoilage and eradication is the
opposite." p.195

Obviously we still have the question of what species, since the
sapient part of homo sapiens seems to be conspicuous by its
absence :-)
--
Guy

On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:16:25 -0800 (PST), "Just zis Guy, you know?"
wrote:

Obviously we still have the question of what species, since the
sapient part of homo sapiens seems to be conspicuous by its
absence :-)


You are approaching V as being obsessive drivel. Think about it. It's
not worth the effort.

On Jan 28, 1:51*pm, nothermark wrote:
On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:16:25 -0800 (PST), "Just zis Guy, you know?"

wrote:
Obviously we still have the question of what species, since the
sapient part of homo sapiens seems to be conspicuous by its
absence :-)

You are approaching V as being obsessive drivel. *Think about it. It's
not worth the effort.

Mate, he's killed this place. There's nothing here other than his
****.
--
Guy