In part 5 of discourse on method, paragraph 57, Descartes talks about how there is no machine better than that of the human body.
.......if there were any such machines that bore a resemblance to our bodies and imitated our actions as far as this is practically feasible........they were not at all, for that reason, true men.
Descartes is trying to say that there is no machine created better than the human body. He argues that the machine may perform many tasks better but lack in other areas. The key to a great machine is reason; perfection is reason. The best part of man is that we have reasoning. We are able to express our selves in many ways and we are able to understand each other and communicate. He also argues that yes animals have similiar organs as we do but they lack reason. They are better at certain things than man because thats how their organs function, not because they are intelligent.
I agree with Descartes point of view. Yes animals can perform some task better than man but they lack reason and the ability to speak. As he points out, some animals like parrots and monkeys can be trained to speak and utter some words but they cannot carry on a conversation or communicate with man. If animals were to be understood by man, then reality would be that they would be better machines than us. But since they lack reasoning, there is no machine better than the human body.
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5 comments:
Descartes does a good job of explaining how we are created better than animals. Animals are often left to defend themselves and see only tunnel vision. I agree with Fran animals do have some abilities we don't have, but I dont agree with that they can't talk in some form to one another.
i do believe animals do have their own type of language, communication in which only they can understand. in our world, of course animals can't talk but theres something in their nature that gives them the ability to communicate with their specie and at times with man.
i believe with francinia. animals have their own ways of communicating. it may not be speaking but dogs bark to talk to other dogs, they bark to let their owners know they need to go outside, or want food, etc. each animals has their own language that they use to communicate. cats meow, dogs bark, birds chirp, cows moo, and so on. and they also have the ability to understand humans. they know when they are getting yelled at for being bad or when they are being called. animals that are in the wild dont understand human language cause they arent around it but they do communicate with other animals.
I wrote about this on my blog also, and I totally agree with you. If animals were able to hold conversations, then yes they could be better and more intelligent then us because of there so many skills, but they cant, which shows that we are the greatest machines and far more intellegent
I dont think animals would be better than us even if they had our organs and reasoning. They may be able to communicate in their own language but they have many things that prevent them from living a lifestyle like ours.Can someone expalain in what ways will an animal be better than us?
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