In Rene Descartes Animals as Machines, Descartes claims that animals “have no reason at all, and that it is nature which acts in them according to the disposition of their organs, just as a clock, which is only composed of wheels and weights and is able to measure time more accurately than all of our reason” (Descartes 2). However, Descartes—in his use of reason as his rationale for man’s superiority over animals—fails to account for humankind’s own irrationality, and the rationality of other animals. In his recent work Predicitiblely Irrational, Duke behavioral economist Dan Ariely highlights instances of human’s irrationality. For example, he cites the case of black pearls, which were less rare than white pearls, and thus initially less expensive to purchase at jewelry stories. However, black pearls were not selling, and thus jewelers took them off the shelves for a few years, only to return them to shelves, at a higher price than white pearls (see article and video on this here: http://danariely.com/2015/04/25/ask-ariely-on-justifying-gadgets-job-satisfaction-and-just-flowers/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIBltwh-k3s ) These businessmen correctly presumed that if customers thought these pearls were more valuable, there would be a higher demand for them—a crack in the myth that humans are perfectly rational, self-interested beings.
I would also like to question Descartes’ notion that animals are incapable of reason and self-awareness. In 2013, Edwin van Leeuwen et. al. through a series of observational and experimental studies (found here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131213094902.htm) concluded that “chimpanzees are sensitive to social influences but they maintain their own strategy to solve a problem rather than conform to what the majority of group members are doing.” In other words, the have the ability to reason independently.
My point in bringing up these two sources is that humans are not always rational, and often jettison “reason” in decision making, while at the same time some animals are capable of “reason” and rational, independent decisions. Thus, I question Descartes notion of a hierarchy between man and animals based on reason—a question I think the graphic novel WE3 also raises. In this sense I do not think Descartes’ binary depiction of humans and animals is accurate, because ultimately, I believe humans should fall under the classification of “animals.”