It is a deep-seated and dangerous logical fallacy to argue from the fact that some other species happens to do this or that to the conclusion that human nature has such and such properties. Human nature is what it is, regardless of how it came to be that way, and irrespective of what our cousins do or do not do. And what human nature is like is not some deep mystery—it is directly observable. Dragging in evolutionary biology is just redundant window-dressing.
Or, rather, it is worse than redundant; it is dangerous. Why is it dangerous? Because it encourages materialist and reductionist thinking. It encourages humans to think of themselves as “nothing but” animals, which is the surest means of really divesting them of their humanity. For, if our species has one decisive characteristic, it is that we live up—or down—to the image we have of ourselves.
Ideas matter. And the silly idea that because some other animal does something, we must do likewise, is as pernicious an idea as there is in our culture today.
If you don’t believe me, just listen to “The Bad Touch,” a popular rap song by the Bloodhound Gang.
– James Barham, “Human Nature Watch 2: Nature, Nurture, and Gender,”The Best Schools blog (December 31, 2011) More.