Atheists, is man different from animals even though mankind evolved from animals?

Question

If so, what makes mankind different from the animals we evolved from.

If not, how can we call someone evil for acting like every other animal on the planet?

Answer 1

You'd be better off directing this alleged question to biologists. However, since you insist on trolling, the answer is no, man is no different from other animals in any significant aspect. Well, perhaps his/your ego is more highly developed.

Answer 2

We are animals, but the highest evolved sort.

Here's how that works....humans are at the top of the food chain (i.e. cannibalism is not acceptable).

Answer 3

To a working biologist your question is incoherent. We are animals, so the difference is a matter of degree, not kind. Evil is a human construction that could apply to animals, if they could understand the concept. I have seen the alpha wolf of a pack punish a malingerer for not regurgitating to the young pups of the pack. I think if the alpha wolf could conceptualize this behavior he would have called it " bad ", at least.

Answer 4

no not really many distinctions whatsoever.  Chimps have wars they simply lack the technology to kill as efficiently.  Lions and hyenas kill the offspring of their opponents not as food but as a means to control competition. When it does seem that elephants mourn their dead and whales have multiple languages and dialects there is no evidence that human beings posess some great new behavior to classify them as significantly different.

Any good driving trips lately??

Answer 5

'Evil' is a religious construct. It does not apply to animals.

And yes, we are animals.

But very special animals that have an intellect, are sentient and are extremely social. And it is these characteristics that make us different from the 'animals' from which we evolved.

Oh, and keep in mind, the animals from which we evolved are no longer in existence - after all, they became 'us'.

Answer 6

much difference

looks

hight

weight

brain

food

residence

convence

clothing

diseases

inventions

Answer 7

No, we are not different in the sense that we are animals and have the same instincts and needs as other social animals.

Yes, we are different in the sense that we have bigger brains and a much more complex reasoning ability.  

I don't think anybody is "evil," per se, but people do perform terrible, vile actions.  We call them "bad" because, like other social animals, our society creates rules that we expect members to abide by.  When they don't, they are acting badly and cast out of the group or imprisoned.  The same thing happens with other social animals, although animals are a lot more likely to kill rather than imprison wayward members of their species.  Our big brains and reasoning ability helps us to see that we have better options than that, i.e. imprisonment of criminals.

Answer 8

How does 'every other animal on the planet' act?  No offense, but you seem to know very little about the natural world?

I know enough to know that they all act very differently from species to subspecies.

For instance, two swans mate for life, and raise young and defend their nest.  They don't go on killing sprees or have 'Swan wars'.

The Surinam toad, on the other hand, have cannibalistic offspring, loads of them...

The chimpanzee's family relationships (like ours) are vital to them.  if a mother is injured or dies, other chimps will adopt her offspring.  Mothers and sons share lifelong bonds, offspring sometimes die of grief if their mother dies.

There is so much to learn about the natural world, and about ourselves...

You'll find that humans have brains capable of abstract and conceptual thought, to the degree that we can change the world around us, and our own behaviours.

Try reading  'Manwatching' by Desmond Morris.  You'll be surprised at how many animal traits we possess but do not recognize as we pretend to be 'above' such things.

"I would add that you would be surprised at how many are actually displayed on a regular basis even in our civlized society."

Try me, that's why I suggested you read 'Manwatching', I have studied anthropology for 20 years and that is a good introduction.  Although I don't know of any animals that unite behind religion or politics and carry out genocide.  I haven't heard of animals that plot threats and serial kill either...

We obviously have developed brains capable of abstract thought and egoism, and some of us also have brains that carry mental illness...

PS why are you only addressing 'atheists' in the anthropology section?  Just curious...

Answer 9

The idea of evil and accusations of evil serve political, social and economic functions. Evil is not an entity nor is it a concrete adjective and is arbitrary and relative to culture. I'd elaborate, but I'm not an Atheist and after all, you are asking Atheists.

What makes mankind different from animals? The development and use of culture. Animals survive on biology and perhaps some social 'networks', but the survival of our species is dependent on culture. What makes us different? A certain kind of intelligence that animals do not possess.

Answer 10

I have never heard an atheist initiate a sentance using the word evil in it; the use has always been in response to someone elses comment or question.

Evil is a term that came out of the mythologies atheists do not hold to.

;-)

Answer 11

hmmm...u seem to not know that some animals have no mother instinct, no sense of humility, and no sense of mercy.

out in the animal world, it's survival of the fittest. let's say you are an animal:

when u are running away from a predator and your friend gets caught by one of them, you dont stand there to mourn over your friend or help them, you save your own ***.

because we EVOLVED from them, and are a better version of them, that is why we are different.

because we have got a brain and we somehow manage to occupy most of the planet.

and to be technically correct, every single living species is defferent from one another so why even bother asking?

Answer 12

First, I am not an atheist but I am a biologist.  Second, the only people who seem to have a problem with evolution and God are the fundamentalist Christians, I know very religious scientists who have accepted that evolution is a fact and that the bible cannot always be taken as literal fact.  Likewise, there is not requirement that an atheist believe in evolution.  As to the differences between human and the apes we evolved from, the differences are in degree, not kind.  For instance, our ape ancestors were intelligent but not as intelligent as modern man.  Part of the burden of intelligence is that your society is no longer bound together solely by biology, humans have a responsibility to create and define what their societies will be.  So, the matter of good and evil are purely a human invention defined and applied only in human terms.

Answer 13

Man is different from other anims by genetic alterations in our DNA...

Now evil is not a part of our genetics. Evil is a moralistic creation of society. What is evil to some people may not be to others. It is all in your view and opinion of the stated action. People call others evil for things because it's what they view based on how they were raised.