Coetzee DB#2

In the case of animal ethics, I’ve noticed that a great deal of argument comes from the point of view of whether or not animals can feel and think in the same way as human beings. However, I am pretty sure I know the answer to this. I don’t think they can. I’ve mentioned before that I agree with the fact that animals do lack the intelligence that humans do. But they feel in their own way and think in their own way and I believe that their ways should be respected. Sometimes our reign over animals seems a little tyrannical: we’re smarter thus we can boss them around and do what we want with them.

For example, I think it is totally unfair that the ape had to conform to human ways to get out of his cruel confinement. The people want the ape to act just as they do and train him to, but they miss the point completely. The ape eventually succeeds in behaving just as they do but he states quite clearly to us that he “imitated them because [he] was looking for a way out, for no other reason” (Anthology 369). I didn’t really understand the motives for wanting the ape to act human, but I could guess. I thought that they could release him only if he were like a human. To them, animals deserve to be locked up in crates, but humans shouldn’t be. Thus, if he were human, he could be free like them.

However, I have to laugh at their “accomplishment.” Yes, they succeeded in making him act like them, but in his mind he seemed to be defying them a little. He wanted to get out of the cage and used all the resources he could to do so, even if that meant going against his instinctual tendencies. Yet, behaving like a human and being human are two totally different things: things that separated the ape’s desires from the human’s desires in this case. And maybe that means that humans want animals to act more like them in order to give them more rights. But I wish that weren’t so. I wish that we could just respect our differences and that would be enough.

Just as the people want the ape to act more human, Costello shows how Hughes is incapable of “inhabiting another mind” and instead inhabits “another body” (Coetzee 96). Humans show a lot of inflexibility in their actions toward animals. They want the animals to act and take up their habits and refuse to recognize the habits of others. The whole issue of animal ethics has definitely brought to my attention so many issues of the human race. I’ve seen how inflexible and insensitive people can be toward mere differences. Animals have proved capable of having very strong emotions and high intelligence levels, but they still remain inferior in the eyes of many.

The ability to treat animals with a higher respect than we do now could be very beneficial to our perspective. By accepting differences, humans are becoming far more flexible in general, which can lead to other satisfying results. This may seem off topic, but by showing more flexibility, we could most likely resolve issues involving racism as well. Not to mention, flexibility is extremely beneficial in diplomatic relations. Additionally, compassion is a virtue in my eyes. Having compassion for animals may seem like a weakness to some, but it shows that humans are willing to be kind to others. I think we can all help each other our and understand each other so much better through our compassion for other creatures, not only each other.

Also, the argument expressed by O’Hearne that “friendship between human beings and animals is impossible” was extremely upsetting (Coetzee 110). He states that we can’t be friends with animals because we have “too little in common” (Coetzee 110). However, what about a conservative simple-minded guy being friends with a liberal intellectual girl? It is safe to say that they have very little in common, but if have at least one thing in common, they can still find something to agree on. I have friends that I actually take pride in our differences and enjoy it. If we were all the same, we would lose those people who are gifted at art and those people who are great at math and science. They can’t all be alike, but they can still be friends. It’s the same with animals. Who says we have to have everything in common to be friends with an animal. Animal trainers befriend the animals they work with and dogs are commonly known as “man’s best friend.” I do not believe for a second that animals and humans can’t be friends and I have seen it disproved many times.