Gettin' All Mediaeval on Their Asses (Actually Prehistoric)

I've come across a section of Maimonides that reinforces a theme in much of Western thought from Prehistory. The world is created for the purposes of man's perfection and as such all things are subject to man's dominion. We can make whatever use we see fit of anything else under the moon and we are by this fulfilling our role as the raison d'etre of everything else.

It's not a wonder we as a species feel generally entitled to make a mess of our world; that minerals were put on/in this Earth in order that we might make a profit from their exploitation; that animals are not entitled to survival separate from our need for them; that our effect on climate and the cleanliness of our environment is a natural biproduct of our progress as a species.

Rationalizing our careless disregard for everything else is not a new conservative sport, it is in fact an ancient groove carved by authorities like Aristotle. Maimonides in the end goes where he always does in the end 'Well God wanted it that way' which is also not a new perspective even at his time.

I would like to posit that we are not the reason everything under the moon exists, were that so we would not be killing ourselves by our use of the planet. It will be harder for us to argue for that entitlement when our stupidity forces us to avoid extinction at our own hands. We are simply a part of the picture. We like to claim we are the top predator of the world, but as we continue to unintentionally engineer super bacteria resistant to all antibiotics it is only a matter of time before our natural predators really kick it into gear aided by the fact that we are turning our atmosphere into an incubator.

Agent Smith was right about one thing. We do behave much more like a virus than an animal. I suppose the question is how long until the hosts "white blood cells" really start getting after it.
At least we can blame it on the philosophers of the past. Avoiding individual responsibility is an important part of our culture. At least Maimonides gave us that.

Editor's Note: Apparently JDT woke up a little snarky today.