On Thursday, April 14, the Philosophy Club hosted Dr. Sharpe in the Dauch College of Business and Economics for a lecture on animalism.

Sharpe is an assistant professor at Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota.

“When I kiss my wife, I’m actually kissing an animal,” exclaimed Dr. Kevin Sharpe as he opened his lecture on why humans are really just animals.

Sharpe tried to convey the message that humans are no different from animals to a room full of Philosophy Club members, students and a few faculty members, including Dr. Jeffrey Tiel and Dr. Louis Mancha.

In his lecture, Sharpe covered a variety of arguments for and against animalism, including Aristotellian animalism, standard replies, nonstandard replies and a host of other theories. Through the use of humor and quotes such as “I was never a fetus. You were never a fetus,” Sharpe kept things lively and entertaining.

Sharpe defined an animal as simple being a “biological organism.” He also stressed the fact that even though humans are animals, they can be other things such as teachers, sons, philosophers and athletes.

To back up his argument, he referenced the controversial Terri Schiavo case and stated: “The Terri Schiavo that was in that persistent vegetative state was not the same animal as the Terri Schiavo prior to the vegetative state.”

Sharpe pointed out that at a base level, humans are just biological organisms and it is different conditions such as personality and mental function that differentiate us from each other as well as other animals.

At the end of the lecture there was a question and answer session that had students and faculty, such as Dr. Tiel, voicing their concerns about the arguments used by Sharpe.

One main point came when Tiel questioned some of Sharpe’s arguments and wanted clarification on how a person who is alive and well is different than a person who is in a coma or persistent vegetative state.

“I thought this guy was full of it,” junior Jeff Harrison said. “He couldn’t back up his idea of Animalism. I feel that Dr. Tiel was ripping him apart and then he kept changing his opinion.”

Senior Cyrus Granger expressed his concern over the fact that he feels that Sharpe kept changing his information also.

Jeffrey and Granger both said they left the lecture not knowing exactly how a human is just an animal. For more information on the Philosophy Club contact Dr. Louis Mancha at [email protected].