losing it

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Aug 31, 2005

The Weekly Standard's Wesley Smith issues a warning against dependence on the yuck-factor to safeguard our moral axioms.

Most people take human exceptionalism for granted. They can no longer afford to do so. The great philosophical question of the 21st Century is going to be whether we will knock humans off the pedestal of moral exceptionalism and instead define ourselves as just another animal in the forest. The stakes of the coming debate couldn't be more important: It is our exalted moral status that both bestows special rights upon us and imposes unique and solemn moral responsibilities --including the human duty not to abuse animals.

Smith illustrates this point by means of a grotesque (and regrettably concrete) celebration of diversity in Washington and its attendant controversy. WARNING: includes post-exceptionalist content.