Human Nature

The essays "The Intelligence of God" and "The Lowest Animal," by Mark Twain, are important because they call into question what a human being's role was originally meant to be in the world. Human beings are lower than animals because of their high levels of deceit, ignorance, and violence. Most human beings see themselves as being at the top of the food chain because (as humans would argue) we have the highest intelligence and are the most civilized of all creatures. Twain, however, would argue that things are quite opposite, as human ignorance often supersedes its intelligence.…