ABSTRACT
I am sick of being insulted. ere seems to be a competition among some contemporary thinkers to dream up the most hostile descriptions of Homo sapiens, a species of which I am proud to be an example. Admittedly, badmouthing humanity is not an entirely novel pastime. ere is a venerable religious tradition of currying favour with the Almighty by self-abasement, telling him (in case he had forgotten) what third-rate, degraded, fallen, creatures he has created. e female of the species tends to be particularly singled out. Augustine’s description of women as “bags of excrement” is a characteristic gallantry. In recent centuries, however, the insults seem to be coming from non-religious sources and inspired by the claim that science has revealed our true standing in the order of things.
