The Uniqueness of Humans
Part 1: Man vs. Animal
For many generations scientists and philosophers debated the question of what does it mean to be human? How are we different than other animals? At what point in the evolution of the homo sapiens from the ape did it become human? What is “man’s advantage over the beasts”?
In the beginning of the 20th century a popular answer was that humans can develop and use tools. Another answer was that humans are intelligent and in particular use language to communicate. But research has later shown that animals also build and use simple tools, and some animals can communicate with an impressive vocabulary. So the question still stands.
Come to think of it, what evidence do we have for our supremacy over other animals? To quote Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.
