I never thought that in an English class I would be discussing cannibalism, but it is surprisingly refreshing to apply language to something other than books, etc. Many people in class brought up interesting points about humans being innately cannabilistic, but I think that this idea is a little far-fetched, but I have been raised to view cannibals in a negative light. I agree that we are above animals because of the use of language; it is how we create and shape our society and what is acceptable. If humans did not have this language capacity, I think it is possible that a human could/would consume another human, but I don't think that it would be the food of choice. I don't believe that humans are, by nature, evil beings. I think that humans are selfish, but for every bad thing done we can find some good as well.
Another thing, humans are not the only animals that have acquired language. Birds, dolphins, bees, and other animals have developed some form of communication. While it is NO WHERE near advanced as what humans have, it is still a form of communication. I think that language combined with logic and reasoning are what places us above animals and I believe that this logic and reasoning are what guide us to make decisions that may go against what our instinct is telling us to do (like eat another human).
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I agree that you can't ignore that other animals have acquired a sense of language or communication. Granted, it isn't as advanced, but dolphins, chimps, etc are capable of learning sign language. Deaf people communicate through sign language as well, and I don't think that it should go unnoticed what an advanced language it really is. I think that people overlook that animals have their own sense of feelings and morality just because we can't necessarily understand their version of them.
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