Noting that the human species is unique on the Earth among all the other animals does not require religion, just simple observation. That this comes from the action of a brain rather than a soul, is as irrelevant as pointing out that the Saturn 5 uses the same basic physical and chemical principles as a bottle rocket.
Ayn Rand, a fervent atheist, still strongly believed in the exceptionalism of the human race, and backed it up with rational arguments based on no supernatural baselines.
Our species has a potential, both for good and evil, that no other living thing on Earth has ever had. No other species has real choices in its life, or must use volitional reason as its natural means of survival.
As in the comic books, this power comes with great responsibility, and many members of the human race have stepped up to the challenge.
No other species on Earth has ever acted to preserve another species or a natural environment against its own short-term interests, and that, too, says something about humanity.
Space/Science » in reply to Science and the soul: Descartes loses force
re: Science and the soul
The whole thread (45 posts)
- Science and the soul: Descartes loses force
- re: Science and the soul
- We are significant. We are rare, thinking, matter.
- Muddle-headed philosophy
- Narrow field scope
- re: Science and the soul: Descartes loses force
- Whatever the market will bear
- What Francis Crick called Biochemical Theology
- Welcome back. The "spark of life".