Human exceptionalism and the lot of animals: Telling stories about “human nature” in the anthropocene

Abstract

This paper arose from a discussion of Maria Kronfeldner’s book What’s Left of Human Nature? In it, I am chiefly concerned with two things: the role that other animals are afforded in discussions about and attempts at defining “human nature”, and a critique of the concept of nature that is utilized in the book. Furthermore, I view science as storytelling practice, and scholarly narratives about “human nature” as important stories in order to pose the question of accountability of telling such stories in the Anthropocene.

Keywords

• “human nature”
• human exceptionalism
• other animals
• western epistemology