Dolphins are human - Term Paper Example

This is in regard to scientific evidence which supports the caring of dolphins. White’s philosophy revolves around the life of dolphins, their biological make up, intelligence capability, and the scientific research that has been conducted to support the argument that dolphins are persons. This means that just as human beings have rights so do dolphins. Through scientific experiments that have been conducted by researches, both the scientists and philosophers try to discover whether dolphins portray the same character as that demanded of a person.

Personhood in this case is associated with the combination of multiple traits essential for human beings. Human beings have been known to possess certain unique qualities and characters which greatly differentiate them from other animals. For instance, human beings have the ability to speak, express, and construct ideas (Dolphins deserve same rights as humans). This lacks among major animals. In this essence, the main question to address is whether dolphins can attain the status of personhood.

White in his book identified the main features that are essential for one to attain the status of personhood. Among the traits he established were intelligence, awareness, ability to recognize people, controlled behavior, the ability to construct ideas and concepts and emotional self-consciousness. This demonstrated that he was more concerned with the status of dolphins as persons (White 198). The issue of self awareness and consciousness justifies the idea that dolphins are humans and should be treated like persons.

Due to this, they have a right to life and should not be submitted to servitude or captivity. Scientists discovered that dolphins are among the most intelligent non-humans through experiments conducted which established that dolphins have higher brain capacity coming second after humans. They are in a position to clearly understand and analyze concepts. Their intelligence is also associated with the ability to handle difficult tasks which other animals are incapable of. It has been proven by scientists that dolphins are able to do things which are beyond human understanding.

For instance, it was noted among the earlier sailors that they were very helpful to sailors who lost their way. They normally maintain a very close relationship with human beings and they are also capable of communicating their feelings to human beings. Their biological senses make them more advanced than human beings. They also have the ability to sense danger from afar and in this case have their unique ways of dealing with challenges. The ability to cure ailments is attributed to supernatural forces and doctors in major societies.

In this regard, dolphins have been established to possess a supernatural power of curing ailments. This has made it difficult for humans to understand their true nature. It is estimated that dolphins take great care of one another especially when one is injured or killed. Once in Iceland, fishermen could be directed on where to place their nets by dolphins and they were able to also communicate their needs and how they felt to others. It was observed that they are also were capable of recognizing themselves in the mirror and research has proved that they are able to focus and think about the future (Camosy 99).

Dolphins should be considered persons as they have a combination of different traits which enhances this argument on the reason why they should be