Book Review

I read the book, Rattling the Cage, by Steven M. Wise written in 2000, and published by Perseus Books. Wise began his book by telling a heart-wrenching story about a group of chimpanzees that were used for HIV testing. Wise used the story to grasp the reader’s attention and emotions in an attempt to help make his animal rights argument stronger. The book walked through the history of animal rights and talked about the evolution of legal rights of nonhumans. Wise argues that, “the problem for nonhuman animals is that they can neither fight nor write.” (page 13) Animals will never be able to have rights unless humans are willing to fight and write for them, which is what Wise encourages his readers to do.

Ancient philosophers believed that animals were put on this earth solely for human use. Wise discusses slavery and the evolution of women’s rights throughout the world. He goes on to explain that currently animals are treated much like slaves and women were treated before equal rights and that animals are in need of our help to gain these same legal rights. However because humans as a whole view nonhuman animals as property, they will still be bought, sold, and traded like any other piece of property.

I enjoyed reading about the similarities between chimpanzees and humans. The section that discussed our similarities of DNA was very interesting. I knew that we shared similarities with chimpanzees but I did not realize how many traits we actually shared. I found this book to be an enjoyable read, but I did find a few flaws in Wise’s arguments. I would have liked to have seen more depth on a solution for animals. Wise argues that chimpanzees share the mental capacity as well as consciousness to that of a five year old human. I agree that chimpanzees have a very high consciousness and intelligence, but I do not believe that they should have the same rights as humans. Wise suggested that because chimpanzees are comparable to children, that they should also have the same rights as children. The only difference would have to be that chimpanzee’s rights would not be able to grow like children’s rights do throughout their lives.

This was a very thought provoking book, and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for an interesting perspective about animals and their rights. The author focused his arguments and attention mostly on chimpanzees since their DNA is closest to humans. I would have liked to have seen more coverage on other animals and species’ rights. Wise wrote about different levels of consciousness in rabbits and how there are two different tests for memory, delay conditioning and trace conditioning. (page 140) He concluded that rabbits have consciousness, but I believe that animal rights should have limits. I think it is difficult to measure a creature’s level of consciousness, and because of this there should also be other requirements that should be met before legal rights are given out to every creature. Wise suggests that we were born with god given rights as well as inalienable rights, and that in history one group gives other groups rights. In order for animals to have a chance, humans as a group must identify an appropriate level of animal rights and then work to help animals obtain these deserving rights.

Human Construction

I believe that humans have created the wording and technical terms for all of these examples in the Final Q. The only terms that I would place in the third category is apples and electrons. Apples and electrons are physical objects that were not at all created by humans. They would exist with or without human’s existence.

In the second category which is: those that are only partly a human construction, I placed the color red, science, time, and music. I originally placed the color red in this category, because I believed that red’s existence is a combination of human perception and the universe. But after discussing this topic in class, I am now more inclined to place red in category three, those that are not at all human construction. I tend to believe that even if humans did not exist, the world would still be full of color. I believe that science is a combination of both humans and nature. It is evident that science is not a completely human creation because nature is science! But, science in nature changed into something greater because of humans. I believe time is another dimension that humans are unable to explain and thus they created a clock to explain and try to make sense of time. I’m not sure if time would exist without human existence, but I tend to believe that it wouldn’t. I believe that music is organized sound, such as nature, and when humans heard it, they tried to re-create it. I think that music exists in its original state in nature, and when humans heard this noise, they tried to re-create it.

In the first category I put market capitalism, patriotism, morality, the number three, war, and god. I believe that all of these terms were strictly created by humans. Market capitalism is strictly a human creation, as it does not exist in nature in the same state. Although many animals may exhibit some of the characteristics of capitalism, it is not the same at human market capitalism. I view patriotism to be a human set of values and that it does not exist in nature. The Loyalty that animals exhibit for their territories, young, and food is not the same loyalty and love for one’s country that is found in human patriotism. Animals are born with internal instincts that make them become territorial, which should not be confused with patriotism. Morality is just like patriotism since it is strictly a human value. Morality would not exist in this world if humans did not exist, thus it falls within the category of human creation. Animals do not have morals or ethics because they do not know the difference between right and wrong. Just because parts of patriotism and morality exist outside of human life, does not mean that it is an existing value.

The number three was also entirely created by humans. I do not see how the number three would exist without human existence, since humans created the number system. I also believe that humans created war, since war has never existed without humans. Unless, someone considers nature’s attacks on the world to be war, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. God was a term I struggled to place in any of the categories. I agree with what someone had suggested in class, that if you believe in God, then you believe that he created humans. Thus, if you believe in god, then humans could not have created the god. On the other hand, if you do not believe in god, you could believe that humans created the concept of god. Perhaps the idea of god was created to help with human suffering and to give people something to believe in and look forward to. Either way, I don’t know.


I found this final Q to be very interesting and I wish we had more time to discuss it in class.

Music is...?

Music is a collection of noise that seems to be difficult to define. Perhaps it is so difficult to define because there are so many different types of “music.” People label and don’t label all different types of noises as music, which makes it difficult to define what it really is. Some people consider nature noises to be music while other people don’t consider it to be music but rather bird noises recorded on a CD. So it is diffucult to define what music really is because there are so many different forms. According to www.dictionary.com music is defined as, an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color. Therefore, it seems as though all noise could be defined as music. Because there are so many different forms music cannot be defined into one solid definition.

Individual's Language

I believe that music is a type of language. However, it is evident that you do not have to understand the language that is being sung to enjoy the music. Music is a way of communication and can help people express their thoughts and feelings. As a language, music has been able to influence people all over the world and sometimes music becomes a huge part of who someone is. Music allows people to communicate their emotions, impressions, and thoughts about the world. It also plays a huge role in many different cultures around the world. Music is a way of life for many people that sometimes defines who they are and how they dress, act, and think. Music is not only a means of communication but also a place for individuality as well as creativity. Because there are so many different types of music in the world people are able to choose music that best fits their life style and beliefs.

Noise

Music can be defined in many different ways, but usually it is thought of as poetic and subjective. These combinations of different sounds can be defined by philosophers as a language, a subjective experience, as well as a social construct. To many people music is a way of life, which could be a new experience or as a way to escape reality for a brief amount of time. Music can be a way to display feelings, emotions, and thoughts. It can be a motivation tool, a way to relax, or even used to enhance a movie scene. Music is a part of everyone’s day, whether it is playing on the radio on the way to work, in commercials on TV, movies, background music in stores and businesses, or even elevator music. Music is a creative poetic art that has made its way into our daily lives and has influenced many people.

Revenge?

There are many different reasons and theories of why the United States invaded Iraq. The three main reasons that the Bush Administration had for invading, whether they admit to them or not, were the attacks of 9/11, oil, and weapons of mass destruction. It is clear that President Bush first invaded Iraq out of anger resulting from the attacks on 9/11 and he claimed to be searching for weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was hiding. It has also been suggested that Bush invaded Iraq to try to finish the job that his father couldn’t complete in Baghdad in 1991.

It is evident that the reasons for invading Iraq as well as what we are fighting for is not cut and dry. Sadly, it seems as though our government is trying to fight a war for a reason that they are not willing to share with the rest of the Country. In the beginning George Bush jumped to conclusions and said that we needed to invade Iraq because they were harboring weapons of mass destruction. It is evident that no one really knows the real reasons why we are in Iraq, only the Bush Administration truly knows. Thus, we do not know what success will look like. Perhaps success will be when Iraq and surrounding countries are stable enough to function on their own without threats of terror. Unfortunately, with the way that things are going overseas now, success is not within our reach for a long time.

A loose-loose situation

At Sacred Heart Univ. I took a couple Arab History classes and my professor actually spent quite a long time over in Afghanistan and Iraq when she was younger. Her parents opened a hospital and school in Afghanistan and my professor had her mother come in and talk to our class one day. The first question she asked the class was, “How many of you had honestly heard of Afghanistan and Iraq before 9/11?” and most of the class did not raise their hands. I found this interesting because prior to 9/11 most people did not know much about the Middle East. She brought in many different things that she collected while she lived over there and shared many stories with us.

It was interesting to hear about the different culture that is over there and how suppressed the people are. She told us that the Afghanistan people were actually relieved to have the American soldiers there because now they are not being suppressed by the Shiites, since they were driven out of the cities. It was interesting to hear the other side of the story, since we only hear about America's side.

She did however; say that America is in a very tough situation because if we leave, there is great fear that something bad like 9/11 will happen again. There is also the threat that the oppressive groups will move back into the cities and take over again. It is evident that we are in a tough position because either way we are hindering Afghanistan and Iraq’s ability to grow. By staying there we are not allowing the Countries to have their own individuality and instead we are oppressing them even more with our democratic ways. Something needs to change, but it is tough to find a solution that will benefit everyone.