[pikatore]

Quote by: StrongHeartsWin Are you saying we are a peaceful species? If so, then why do we need laws and institutions to protect us from violence?

I never said we were peaceful. There is no such thing as a 'peaceful' species. Stop looking at it from such a small minded point of view. Even seemingly harmless plants battle it out for survival against competition in thier own way.

Quote by: StrongHeartsWin You mean like deer in Kentucky have organized to war on the deer in Virginia? Or chipmunks enslave squirrels to harvest nuts for them? Perhaps elephants grab girraffes by the neck with their trunks to rough them up a little, wanting them to get out of the land so that the leaves or other plant life is left for them only.

Deer will fight to the death over a mate, and can be extremely territorial and attack anything that may be remotely percieved as a threat.

Chipmunks will sometimes attack bird nests and kill hatchlings, and if the adult bird is small enough, kill the adult as well.

Elephant adult males engage in a pattern of behavior know as 'mufta' while females are ovulating, where they will attack ANY other males that they see. They are also territorial animals.

War is a fancy name for two herds of humans fighting with each other over a disagreement. Apes exhibit a more basic form of this behavior, usually over territory, but also sometimes over a more personal dispute. Also, meerkats have been known to actually invade other meerkats' territory and fight to the death. We aren't anything special, we just have more elaborate and effective ways to kill each other. That doesn't make us inherently violent. It comes with advanced intellegence.

Quote by: StrongHeartsWin Then give us examples of many other animals surpassing us in diversity of violence.

Just beacuse a bear can't carry around a gun, that doesn't make less violent as such. It's all relative. Just because we've discovered more ways to kill each other, that doesn't mean that an animal wouldn't do the same thing if it was smart enough to figure it out.

It's like saying we are a hungrier species because we've mastered tool use and made spoons and forks and knives.

Quote by: StrongHeartsWin Human history up until the present is marked by intolerance. We try to shield ourselves from that intolerance or the strong preying upon the weak through force of law. Open the newspaper and you will see many examples of intolerance amongst our species.

Look at other species, and tolerance isn't even in thier reportoire. It isn't even a concept they know yet. If one animal is neutral to another and has the power to kick it's arse, it'll DO it, purely because it will either gain food and/or respect (depending on the animal). Humans, you'll find, may have more complicated pathways to being motivated to do such a thing.