In the grand story of evolution, the crowning human distinction is our big brain. But our large heads have been slow to recognize a less admirable trait of Homo sapiens — self-centeredness.
The human presumption of superiority and entitlement to exploit the natural world is deeply rooted in our religious, cultural, and scientific traditions — and now we are witnessing the consequences, said Christine Webb, a former Harvard lecturer and author of “The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters.”
The central thesis of her book is that anthropocentrism — or what Webb calls the “human superiority complex” — has pushed our planet to environmental crises such as mass extinctions, rising sea levels, forest fires, and more.
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“I’ve come to think of the arrogant ape not as a species, or a culture, or even an individual, but as a tragic protagonist in a Greek drama, blinded by their own hubris,” said Webb. “This unfortunate and dangerous way of viewing our world is a brainwashing of such major proportions that many people remain entirely unaware of it.”
