Jack London's 'A Piece Of Steak'

1 I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals, since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher

The young waiter has a harsh view of him as well because on occasion the old man has been so drunk he walks out on his bill. The younger waiter has a different respect for time, it’s precious to him and he values it. “I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?” “He stays up because he likes it.” “He’s lonely, I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” “He had a wife once too” (153). The older you get, the more time wears down on you, and you begin to now, greater than ever, feel your mortality. This theme is used to help the reader understand the older mans pain and that no matter how young and confident someone is, they will eventually grow old and die.

Another example

In fact, Darwin stated, “if we can breed certain traits in or out of plants and animals, and if human beings are biological organisms not fundamentally different from plants and animals, then we should be able – if we so wished – to “improve” the human race by means similar to those developed over the centuries by plant and animal breeders (Word Press). `Darwin was more interested in improving humanity as a whole, not one specific race. Darwin’s ideas were applied in a rather controversial manner in the 19th century.

An example of the

“…respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected

In one such example

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, a scientific theory that supported the belief of evolution, was manipulated and applied to different areas of life, and thus it became the shaping force in European thought in the last half of the nineteenth century. Darwin, through observation of organisms, determined that a system of natural selection controlled the evolution of species. He found that the organisms that were most fit and assimilated to the environment would survive. They would also reproduce so that over time they would eventually dominate in numbers over the organisms with weaker characteristics. This new theory was radical and interesting to the scientific world but its effects reach far beyond this small institution of

Charles Darwin includes an effective beginning for his work, Natural Selection. By introducing his theory with a set of questions, interest to continue reading is developed. One question Darwin poses is the possibility of how one can survive, taking into account the circumstances of climate and traits. An interesting concept Darwin alludes to is that some individuals possess certain traits that enable them to survive. Another method implemented in the beginning of Darwin’s piece is the broadness of the context. Darwin does not go into any specifics right away, as the reader will learn more as they continue. “Let it be borne in mind how infinitely complex and close fitting are the mutual relations of all organic beings to each other and to their physical conditions of life” (Darwin 900). Darwin accounts for how unique each organism is, but generalizes the statement by categorizing all organisms as complex. By doing this, the reader is inclined to continue

Another example

One common perception of nature is that it is something raw, untouched by human civilization. This point of view suggests that humans are completely separated by nature and that our cultures and technologies are in some way unnatural. However, I believe that not only are we a part of nature, but our cultures are also deeply entwined with how we view nature. In this paper, I will review Emily Martin’s The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles as well as Michael Pollen’s Why ‘Natural’ Doesn’t Mean Anything Anymore in order to examine how nature, culture, and power relate with each other. Martin asserts that gender stereotypes affect biologists’ description of the natural world, particularly in the human reproduction process. Pollen makes a case that nature in fact lacks any meaning yet is often used as strong rhetoric. I argue that nature is constructed through cultural values and is used for rhetorical purposes, which shows that people manipulate facts in order to gain authority.

The arguments for speciesism cover a large span of human’s self interests. We are desensitized through culture, tradition, religion, and convenience, all of which propagate man’s dominion, and “supremacy” over all other sentient beings; similarly, Adolph Hitler’s claimed Germany’s superiority over other races and its God given destiny to rule the world and everyone in it..

Examples of this are present

Galton believed that a wide range of human characteristics were inherited, including mental, physical, and moral traits. This view was stimulated in part by Galton’s cousin, Charles Darwin, and his recent work in the field of evolution. Although Darwin didn’t play a direct role in eugenics, he had shown how man, despite his relative complexity as compared to plants and most animals, was still evolving. Because of this, Galton reasoned that humans could be controlled and manipulated so that the next generation would be of higher stock. He reasoned that man had been focusing too much on the evolution of lower level species for too long. So long in fact, “that human defectives [were] increasing at such an alarming rate that, unless some efficient methods [were] devised for keeping them in check, they [would] endanger the welfare of the entire race.” (Fasten, 283) In the mind of Galton it was essential to fix this problem. He concurred that “all creatures would agree that it was better to be healthy than sick, vigorous than weak, well-fitted than ill-fitted for their part in life; in short, that it was

“For their point of view does not permit of a live-and-let-live kind of carrying on. It is a point of view that justifies itself by a whole hearted acceptance of the worst of Neo-Darwinism, the Allmacht of natural selection applied rigorously to human life and society and Kultur”(p.22, Headquarters Nights by Vernon Kellogg).