The Nature of Man
There appears to be much debate on the "nature of man." How can we gather him and throw him into categories? How shall we predict each one by finding the universality of their collective actions? What do they all desire, despise? Where did society come from? What is the nature of society? In asking these questions, we make an assumption that might not be valid, something of an egotistical reductive fallacy.
We assume we are different. We never question the nature of dogs, or birds in flight, or frogs. We assume that their nature is somehow lesser than ours, that our instincts are refined. We assume we are somehow different. As proof, we point to skyscrapers, sitting like beehives only more symmetrical. We show roads and highways, run bare every day like the familiar paths of dogs in so many suburban backyards. Moreover, there are our cities and societies, intricate and delicate, like Goodal's gorillas in the mists of Africa.
We are not different. We only say this to ourselves because we know that in our wake lie the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals, left in disarray by building, food, and pollution. We crave what they crave: food, attention (remember Goodal's observation of show and pomp by the apes), community and interaction, and reproduction. We try to separate ourselves because we have such a hard time understanding each other. If we can grasp the structure of ant society, and cannot grasp ours, ours must be infinitely complex. We can comprehend all other structures and whys (or we believe so) of animal society because we are not within it, and it is easy to pass judgement on something you are not an intricate part of. Imagine passing fair judgement on your loved one in a court of law, with the penalty being death.
How could it be that among all creatures on Earth, one is set apart? Is it not possible that all creatures share universality, being alive and needy? We find it impossible to judge ourselves and come to a consensus... we find it too hard to damn ourselves. If we really find the need to define ourselves, we should accept that we are no different from other animals. We are born, love, learn, get hurt, make mistakes, eat, and die. If we want to find our true nature, we need look no further than what is on our dinner plate.