
The Beast Within
Humans as Animals
Jessica Serra(Author)
Johns Hopkins University Press
Published on 26. March 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-1-4214-4750-6 (ISBN)
Description
How different from animals are we really?
Are humans the only creatures who love, laugh, cry, possess morals, and wage war? In The Beast Within, scientific researcher and ethologist Jessica Serra upends the assumptions that underpin our very human hypothesis that we possess a superior place in the hierarchy of organisms on Earth. How did we come to think of our animality as standing in opposition to our humanity-and does this reasoning have a scientific basis?
Through the fascinating discoveries made by ethologists, anthropologists, and archeologists, Serra deciphers our behaviors in light of their animal roots and demystifies ideas about how different animals are from humans. She compares human behaviors with those exhibited by other species in chapters spanning topics as varied as sex, morality, emotions, intelligence, and family. Exploring the evolution of various animal species, as well as the evolution of historical ideas about humanity and animality, Serra theorizes that human behaviors and motivations may hold more in common with those of animals than we think. These explorations of scientific findings encourage us to reconsider how much we have truly removed ourselves from "the beast within."
Are humans the only creatures who love, laugh, cry, possess morals, and wage war? In The Beast Within, scientific researcher and ethologist Jessica Serra upends the assumptions that underpin our very human hypothesis that we possess a superior place in the hierarchy of organisms on Earth. How did we come to think of our animality as standing in opposition to our humanity-and does this reasoning have a scientific basis?
Through the fascinating discoveries made by ethologists, anthropologists, and archeologists, Serra deciphers our behaviors in light of their animal roots and demystifies ideas about how different animals are from humans. She compares human behaviors with those exhibited by other species in chapters spanning topics as varied as sex, morality, emotions, intelligence, and family. Exploring the evolution of various animal species, as well as the evolution of historical ideas about humanity and animality, Serra theorizes that human behaviors and motivations may hold more in common with those of animals than we think. These explorations of scientific findings encourage us to reconsider how much we have truly removed ourselves from "the beast within."
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 152 mm
Width: 229 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
326 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4214-4750-6 (9781421447506)
DOI
10.56021/9781421447506
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
03/2024
Johns Hopkins University Press
€19.99
Available for download
Persons
Jessica Serra is a scientific researcher, writer, editor, and consultant. She is the author of The Secret Life of Cats, which became the basis for popular French television show, La Vie Secrete des Chats on BBC Worldwide.
Content
1. Denying Our Animality
2. An Intelligence Apart?
3. Our Bestial Emotions
4. Vices And Virtues
5. Sex Machine?
Epilogue
Endnotes
Acknowledgments
2. An Intelligence Apart?
3. Our Bestial Emotions
4. Vices And Virtues
5. Sex Machine?
Epilogue
Endnotes
Acknowledgments