[Ethics & Morals] When Animals are Seen as Machines

 

 From Plato to Descartes and Kant and now to modern day, there is a general idea that pervades Western society. This idea is about the uniqueness and superiority of the human being. 

We are rational and conscious beings that apparently stand alone in the world, separated intellectually from animals and biologically from machines. The relationship between humans, animals, and machines is a tumultuous one and it is not easily definable. 

For many classical philosophers, this relationship has always been a hierarchy. Humans are on the top and animals and machines fall somewhere below. These beliefs have created a distinct category for the three terms that leaves no room for overlap. 

Because of the great disparity between these groups, the animal and machine have come to be known as the “Other.” This title demonstrates that they are markedly disregarded and disrespected.