Crispin Sartwell: Humans are animals. We need to get over it. It’s astonishing how relentlessly Western philosophy has strained to prove we are not squirrels. (Tim Enthoven | The New York Times) Humans Are Animals. Let’s Get Over It. By Crispin Sartwell | The New York Times | Feb. 28, 2021, 3:00 p.m. | Updated: 4:04 p.m. If one were to read through the prefaces and first paragraphs of the canonical works of Western philosophy, one might assume the discipline’s primary question to be this: What makes us humans so much better than all the other animals? Really, it’s astonishing how relentless this theme is in the whole history of philosophy. The separation of people from, and the superiority of people to, members of other species is a good candidate for the originating idea of Western thought. And a good candidate for the worst.