Are we animals? This question, seemingly simple, delves into our many theories of personal identity. While our daily lives define us as human beings, the theory of "animalism" challenges this perspective. Philosopher Eric Olson argues that our fundamental identity aligns with being biological organisms within the animal kingdom. This puts the existence of a ‘human’ essence in question and has implications for life after death, consciousness transfer, transhumanism and even environmental responsibility.

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What are we? Human beings, of course. We’re also parents, friends, readers of online articles, and much more. And we’re animals: biological organisms of the animal kingdom.  That may seem rather obvious. Our planet is home to some eight billion members of the primate species Homo sapiens. And those animals seem to be us. When you see yourself or someone else, you see an animal. Wherever that animal goes, you go, and vice versa.  We don’t appear to be anything other than these animals.

Philosophers call the claim that we’re animals ‘animalism’. You may be surprised to hear that it’s a minority view in contemporary philosophy. And in fact most of us are at least inclined to believe things that are incompatible with it.