The case for human exceptionalism

As a committed defender of human exceptionalism, I am often asked what that term means. Primarily, our moral value is intrinsic as a matter of objective worth. It need not be earned by possessing talents, traits, or characteristics. We are all equal.

Human exceptionalism also appeals to our unique capacity for moral agency: Only humans have duties—to treat each other respectfully and protect the vulnerable, to husband animals humanely, and to make responsible use of the environment. In other words, humans understand right from wrong and have a duty to act accordingly. Four books helped me develop this understanding.

Peril of denying our humanity

I enjoy science fiction, for both entertainment and the prophetic possibilities of the genre. No book has been more prescient than Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World.

The book depicts a future in which society has ceased to be truly human. It is a world of slaves. People are hatched from artificial wombs. Families no longer exist. Rather than being born as unique individuals with unlimited potential, each person is genetically engineered to fill invidious societal castes and, by design, to enjoy their biological straitjackets.

The denizens of Brave New World believe in nothing. Faith is wholly absent. The pain such a pointless existence generates in the human heart is anesthetized by legally required promiscuity and the drug “soma.” The oppression caused by human unexceptionalism is absolute.

Today Huxley’s fears are coming to pass. We are so technologically advanced, our prowess would seem to be limitless. And yet, we are not content. A new nihilistic social movement known as transhumanism thinks so little of humanity it seeks to genetically reengineer us to exhibit greater capacities and, fancifully, live forever. Drug use is rampant. Families are in disarray. Religious belief is collapsing. Suicide has become a public health crisis. Social media—the new soma—masks the pain of purposelessness. But eventually, despair gnaws into conscious awareness.

Peril of denying others’ humanity

Racism is evil because it treats inherent equals as unequal, a profound violation of human exceptionalism. The 19th-­century social movement to eradicate slavery is one of my passions.

There are many excellent books about the decades-long emancipation effort. Perhaps the best is All on Fire by Henry Mayer, a powerful biography of the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.

Garrison’s indefatigable drive to end slavery was powered by the written word. In the first issue of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, Garrison wrote about slavery: “On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hand of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen—but urge me not to use ­moderation in a cause like the present.”

When those words were written in 1831, there was no real abolitionist movement. A mere 35 years later—in large part because of the power of Garrison’s moral suasion—there was no slavery. If only I could produce persuasive prose of such literary power!

Picture of humane compassion

I read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, and all these decades later, I still remember the powerful impact it had on my worldview. I was particularly taken with the attorney Atticus Finch. When Tom Robinson, a black man, is falsely accused of rape, Atticus jeopardizes his good standing in the community to defend the innocent man. He proves Robinson’s innocence, but justice in the racist town eludes him.

The nobility of Atticus’ character influenced my decision to become a lawyer. His defense of an innocent man simply because it was his duty moved me deeply, as the unjust death of Robinson awakened my awareness of the pernicious consequences of racism. Atticus remains my favorite fictional character.

Radical human dignity

No volume celebrates human exceptionalism more than the New Testament. Need I count the ways? Christ telling us that our very hairs are numbered. For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son so that those who believe will not perish—a promise equally available to all. Paul writing, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Radical for his day, and, alas, it so remains today.

The New Testament also admonishes us to fulfill our human duties. Jesus tells us that when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned—or don’t—we do it—or don’t—unto Him. James instructs: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” We are even told to pray for our enemies.

What, then, is human exceptionalism? Love. Love for ourselves in the appreciation that our individual importance can’t be quantified. Love for each other. Love for the natural world and the animals with which we share its beauties. Love for our posterity, whom we will never meet.

In the end, that’s all that matters because, as Paul knew, “Love never fails.” Our best books point us in the same direction.

—Wesley J. Smith is chairman of the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. His most recent books are Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine and The War on Humans.