Human exceptionalism

Human exceptionalism

Human exceptionalism refers to a belief that human beings have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This special status conveys special rights, such as the right to life, and also unique responsibilities, such as stewardship of the environment.

Some believers in human exceptionalism base the concept in Abrahamic religions, such as the verse in Genesis 1:26 "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."

Others take a secular approach, such as pointing to evidence of unusual rapid evolution of the brain and the emergence of "exceptional" aptitudes. As one commentator put it, "Over the course of human history, we have been successful in cultivating our faculties, shaping our development, and impacting upon the wider world in a deliberate fashion, quite distinct from evolutionary processes. [Starr, Sandy. " [http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA855.htm What Makes Us Exceptional?] ". Spiked Science]

References

ee also

* Anthropocentrism
* Exceptionalism
* Human rights
* Speciesism

External links

* Hughes, James" (2003) [http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/hughes20060327/ Saving Human Rights from the Human-racists] ". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Exceptionalism — is the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not conform to normal rules, general principles or the like. Used in this sense, such a perception… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in the United States — In 1776, Thomas Jefferson proposed a philosophy of human rights inherent to all people in the Declaration of Independence, asserting that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that… …   Wikipedia

  • American exceptionalism — refers to the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries. In this view, America s exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming the first new nation, [1] and developing a uniquely American… …   Wikipedia

  • HIV exceptionalism — is the term given to the trend to treat AIDS differently from other sexually transmitted, infectious, lethal diseases in law and policy. Whereas the traditional public health approach has been to employ practices like forced testing, compulsory… …   Wikipedia

  • US Human Rights Network — The US Human Rights Network (USHRN) is a national network composed of over 200 grassroots human rights organizations and over 700 individual activists working to strengthen the protection of human rights in the United States. The organization… …   Wikipedia

  • Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights — The Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR) was formed by a group of Atlanta University Center students in February, 1960. This committee drafted and published An Appeal for Human Rights on March 9, 1960.[1] Six days after publication of …   Wikipedia

  • Zoophilia — For other uses, see Zoophilia (disambiguation). Bestiality redirects here. For other uses, see Bestiality (disambiguation). Zoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον (zṓion, animal ) and φιλία (philia, friendship or love ), also known as zoosexuality, is… …   Wikipedia

  • Person — The term person is used in common sense to mean an individual human being. But in the fields of law, philosophy, medicine, and others, it means the presence of certain characteristics that grant a certain legal, ethical, or moral standing. For… …   Wikipedia

  • Speciesism — involves assigning different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership. The term was coined by British psychologist Richard D. Ryder in 1973 to denote a prejudice based on physical differences.Ryder, Richard. [http://www …   Wikipedia

  • Wesley J. Smith — is a lawyer and an award winning author, [2001 Book Awards, Independent Publishers Organization] a senior fellow in bioethics at the Discovery Institute, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, [Source:… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”