--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There's a long tradition in Western…" description: "\"There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines.\" — Frans de Waal" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png" --- # There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans… ![“There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines.” quote by Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png) > “There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines.” [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Western thought often claims humans transcend biology, unlike animals seen as purely instinctual. **In simple terms:** Humans are thought to be beyond biology. Key Takeaway Question assumptions about human nature. Themes philosophy biology human nature Mood curious critical Type philosophical scientific When to use this quote - ethics debates - education curricula - AI development - psychological research Key Concepts evolutionary theory animal cognition Questions to Reflect On - How does biology shape decision making? - Can we ever be free from instinct? A Different Perspective Biology still influences human behavior. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Animals Pure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals-pure-3045847/) [Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/) [Biology Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology-animals-3045846/) [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Instinct](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinct/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-tradition/) [Machines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/machines/) [Pure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pure/) [Shackled Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shackled-biology-3045845/) [Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Western](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/western/) [Western Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/western-thought-985801/) [Whereas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whereas/) ## Related quotes > [“Animals are pure and gentle. 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Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frans de Waal" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thought-that-humans-are-not/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Animal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thought-that-humans-are-not/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c43/frans-de-waal-2997_animal_there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thou_2743534.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are…” — Frans de Waal", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Frans de Waal", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There's a long tradition in Western...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thought-that-humans-are-not/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/there-s-a-long-tradition-in-western-thought-that-humans-are-not/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```