"It is a fact that humans are multicellular eukaryotes with an internal digestive tract. It is also a fact that these criteria match the biological definition of an animal. But because I’m talking to a philosopher, we even have to argue the definition of “definition”. “A good definition explains concisely what something means“, “a statement expressing the essential nature of something“, “a statement of what a thing is“. So any multicellular eukaryote with an internal digestive tract is in fact an animal by definition. Once we determine that the criteria apply, we have no choice to deny the definition connected with that, especially not when the definition is deliberately well-established by expertise as this one is, rather than being an “accident of language” such as the apologist asserted."
React to this quote
More by Aron Ra
See allResonant Thoughts
"Social scientists … have begun to think that “social animal” means “harmoniously belonging.” They do not like to think that fighting and dissenting are proper social functions, nor that rebelling or i…"
"I understand Being in all and over all, as there is nothing without participation in Being, and there is no being without Essence. Thus nothing can be free of the Divine Presence."
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"I'm happier than the morning sun,And that's the way you said that it would be,If I should ever bring you in…"
— Stevie Wonder"Loneliness does not come from having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things t…"
— Carl Jung"It can hardly be argued that the ubiquity of the Playboy Bunny logo or its popularity with young girls are …"
— Laurie Penny"Herr Bauer picked out French materialism as a school of Spinoza from Hegel's History of Philosophy. But whe…"
— Baruch Spinoza"There's a special feeling about being a woman. You do so much for everyone around you. But some days You re…"
— Nicole Hollander"The Walker Rules Committee substitute preserves and protects our heritage, but it does not say that, as Sou…"
— Roy Barnes