Final answer:
Option B - 'Humans have an inescapable wildness that is a basic part of them' - resonates as the theme of the text, highlighting the deeply rooted and complex relationship between humans and animals, as well as humans and nature.
Step-by-step explanation:
The theme of the text revolves around the intricate relationship between humans and animals, and more broadly, humans and nature. Option B, 'Humans have an inescapable wildness that is a basic part of them,' best captures the essence of the excerpts provided.
This theme is underscored by the discussion of how human culture defines itself against nature while simultaneously recognizing its connection with the animal kingdom via symbols, taxonomy, and evolutionary theory. The multifaceted roles that animals play in human life and the ongoing interaction between people and the natural world suggest a deep kinship and, perhaps, a shared inherent wildness.
Furthermore, animals being considered 'good to think' as stated by Claude Lévi-Strauss and the examination of human biology that identifies our traits shared with animals hints at the inextricable link that humans have with their basic, wilder instincts.
Therefore, the selected theme acknowledges the persistent if sometimes latent, wildness inherent in human nature, a principle seen in how cultures and the educational system approach the human place within nature and its import in shaping human thoughts and actions.