"We are above animals"

In the Dutch program Knevel & Van den Brink I was struck by something that Roman Catholic priest Antoine Bodar said Wednesday during a discussion about ritual slaughter without anaesthesia:

We always compare ourselves with animals these days.... No, we are above animals.

Humans are above animals? What does that even mean? I suppose the idea here is that we are more important than animals. More important for whom? Well, a human values other humans more than other species, just like a chimp values other chimps from the same community more than other species. That's just the consequence of being part of a community, whether its a community of humans or apes or any other social animal. Is there any objective reason to value human life more than other species? Perhaps it could be argued that we have the most advanced consciousness and that we are the most intelligent species. But even if that's true, so what? It doesn't make us 'more important'. If there happened to be a species with a more advanced consciousness and a greater intelligence than humans, do you think we would value that species more than humans? I seriously doubt it.

It is quite obvious where Bodar gets this idea and that is his religion. In Genesis 1:26 it is written:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.   

Nevertheless, I think the bible is here just reflecting a natural tendency of humans to consider themselves more important than other species. It's also quite interesting to see scientists search for the special ingredient of our species. What makes us so special? Is it that we can use tools, that we have morality, that we have a theory of mind (can take the perspective of others), that we make war, that we can learn language, that we can imitate, or is it something else? Whenever one of these options has to be rejected on the basis of ethological evidence, one of the other options is pursued until that one must be checked off. As it happens chimps appear to have all of these abilities, even if they are less advanced than in humans. It's pretty much what we should expect given that our brain is more than three times the size of a chimp brain. Researchers haven't given up the search of course and currently the best bet is something like speech or syntax. Yes, chimps do not talk to each other, even though they can learn to use a form of symbolic communication by pointing to symbols they've learned. So those who argue that we are unique can be satisfied: we are the only chatterboxes in the world!

It is of course quite clear that in evolutionary terms there is a kind of continuity between species. Primatologists are always telling us how much humans and apes are alike, so what are we to make of the popular idea that we are somehow more important than other species? By now you may be getting the impression that I am suggesting that there is no reason to value humans more than other animals. By no means! We do not need objective reasons to value humans more than other species. Subjective reasons suffice. It is after all part of our evolutionary make-up to favor members of the same community, who also happen to be members of the same species. So why do some say that humans are above animals? Because they are human. Even the most extreme animal rights activist would not value a chicken as much as another human being.