What Is Unique about Humans?

[Riddle]

Several characteristics distinguish humans from other living organisms. The most significant of these does not have to do with physical capacities such as walking upright or having an opposable thumb. Mental abilities are a characteristic which makes humans unique, and a complex oral and written language puts them in a class by themselves. Perhaps the most singular characteristic which is exclusively in the human domain is our ability to sense moral meanings. More specifically, we may have a sense of how we ought to treat others. Equally significant, we seem to have the ability to violate our own beliefs about what is right, or ethical or moral — a father feels he should comfort a crying baby, but then does not. A student feels it is right to put her best effort into her chemistry homework, and then spends the night before the test at a taco shop with friends instead of reviewing the chapters. A junior high student, with his buddies at lunch, taunts a retarded boy, not remembering that when his softball team made fun of his sister's buck teeth, he had intervened immediately and boldly.

Getting control of our personal lives is not just a matter of skill or discipline or knowledge or practice — though all of these might be helpful. Control and freedom begin with the quality of life we live, and that quality is related to whether we live by the beliefs we have about how to treat others. Our quality of life is a function of how consistently we live according to our sense of right and wrong. That sense of right and wrong is the most significant characteristic of our humanness. Our seeming ability to go against the very things we believe is the reason we behave inhumanely — perhaps causing us to become inhumane.

[Howlitzer]

True... interesting to think about. There are advantages to those aspects that separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom, but there's definitely drawbacks. Mankind might be leaps and bounds above the animal kingdom on so many levels....but with all our complexities arises a tremendous capacity for cruelty and hypocrisy.

So yeah. I agree with you wholeheartedly. People can be jerks despite the morals they've created. Animals exist on a much less complex system, and thus don't have to worry about the complex morals we oh-so-easily break. To them it's plain and simple, not something to get a headache over.

I, personally, think that is a major reason why many people in general are fascinated with the idea of werewolves. I mean, the classic bloodthirsty werewolf could be seen as an embodiment of our own violent nature...and sometimes this is just fun, as it fills people's appetites (mine included) for some good, healthy, sadistic entertainment.

but going beyond that to the less simple-minded, violent, bloodthirsty view, the type of werewolf more people would actually want to *be*, even after considering the decision.... it could be seen as either a way to reclaim some of the things we lose with our "humanity"...Or something as simple as a way to occasionally "let go" and withdraw yourself from humanity entirely.....or, as a whole, it could even be a happy medium between both the better aspects of humanity and the better aspects of nature.

[Avareis]

A whale or a seal will play with their food to the point of cruelty. A wolf will kill it's own to keep the hierarchy in their favor. I lion, it seems, will adopt its prey and try to raise it as its own.
The only thing I see human being unique from from the rest of the organisms in the world is the fact that human being like to separate themselves from the animal kingdom with commons sense and fellowship as the defining nature of what separates us from the rest of the animals. Human beings have a capacity for hypocrisy and create an over self-worth in themselves when there are those just as bad and even worse than those in the rest of the animal kingdom.

[Howlitzer]

true...

but here's a question to ask.

Would a seal watching another seal playing with its food consider it cruel?

Or would one of the wolves in the pack find it unfair when the Alpha kills to maintain power?

Or would they just accept it as the way things are and not even think about it.

There's really no way to know for sure.... but likening human cruelty to animal behavior isn't really the way to look at it. When you do that, you're placing another species' behavior in the context of our own human morals.

That's like a soccer referee watching a football game and saying that the players can't use their hands. Two DIFFERENT contexts.

The whole reason we see these things as cruel is because we recognize them as cruel..... the very fact that people have defined cruelty and STILL act in such a way is what makes that behavior so inexcusable... That's what makes us different. We recognize cruelty, yet we STILL are cruel. Animals have an entirely different set of rules in their minds... so cruelty is probably an alien concept.

[Midnight]

When I first read the topic title (before reading the comment and answers) the first answer I thought of was: Art. As far as I know, no other species creates beauty for its own sake. This is going with a very broad definition of "art", as well: literature, painting, sculpture, drama, you name it.

[Set]

You wanna know what seperates humans from other animals? Paperwork.

[Midnight]

offers Set a box of matches

[JoshuaMadoc]

Humans argue a lot longer than any other living organism, and they also epitomize what it means to make a simple problem become so horribly complex.

Examples:

- Sex

- Politics

- Emotions

- Logic

- Intelligence

- Morals

- Furries

And they often become violent, verbally or physically.

[Anónimo Juan]

We got thumbs >_> I know apes also goth thumbs, it's just that our thumbs are cooler

[MoonKit]

Well some animals rape (ducks, dolphins, that crustaceon/bug thing) and you can bet the one being raped doesnt think its such a good idea. So its not just humans who are violent. Animals just dont spend the rest of their lives with psychological trauma.

So I guess our emotional capabilities make us different. And our ideology that says that some things are wrong and some arent.

[Set]

offers Set a box of matches

Are you sure that's a good idea? I may not stop at the paper.

[Gangrel]

Just put it this way...you are unique, just like everyone else.




****BEWARE...BAD JOKE^^****

[Midnight]

Are you sure that's a good idea? I may not stop at the paper.

I'm on an island in the middle of an ocean on the other side of the world from you. I should be safe from the resulting conflagration.

And even if I'm not... oh dear, there goes the mountain and a half of paperwork that's sitting on my desk at work, needing dealt with "urgently". How sad. Never mind.

[Kelpten]

Would a seal watching another seal playing with its food consider it cruel?

Or would one of the wolves in the pack find it unfair when the Alpha kills to maintain power?

Or would they just accept it as the way things are and not even think about it.

Lucian is a wolf at our shelter. He has horrible food agression and tries to eat all the food he can get his paws on, including that of his roomate. She's much smaller than him, so she lets him eat everything, even if she gets nothing for days. Kiowa, who's our alpha, can't stand this. He always eats first, but he always saves some for his mate. So when Lucian tries to hog all the food, he'll wait until the whelp's tail gets through the bars and bites it. When we're there to make sure his roomate gets fed, Kiowa doesn't care at all. Wolves at least do recognize cruelty and try and do something about it.

And I think what gives us humanity is fire. As in the Greek myth of Promethius, fire is what sets us apart from animals. Almost all our technologies can be traced back to fire, and it's the only thing that is completely ours alone. I also go so far as to suggest we have a spiritual fire, that our ability to asses the natural wolrd, our intellegence, and our creativity, all spring from this spiritual fire.

Also, all animals obey God unquestioningly, as do the mountains and waters and everything else. Only man has the capability of disobaying Him, making our potential so much greater and so much less. If we fail to follow God, then our possition is less than that of the animals, but if we succeed where the option of failure was present, our reward will be so much greater.

And now I've introduced religion into the topic you can thank me later moderators!

[RedEye]

Man is the only animal who knows he is going to die. No other creature realizes that death is inevitable for them.

Everything dies. Even the Universe; eventually. Yet it is only man who knows his mortality and tries to prevent it as long as possible; past being alive, past being aware, past being responsive.

We let our sick animals be "put down" to spare their suffering, yet we call it murder if it happens to one of us.

Man is the only animal who knowingly commits suicide to protect others of his kind.

Note: this is NOT a Pro-Assisted Suicide post: it's just an observation on What is unique about Humans.

[Anónimo Juan]

Ehm...

[IndianaJones]

If God didn't create us? Then who did? I am thinking the 21 Aliens!

[RedEye]

If God didn't create us? Then who did? I am thinking the 21 Aliens!

Naah...it was the man behind the curtains...(Wizard of Oz)

[Silverclaw]

Animals just dont spend the rest of their lives with psychological trauma.

I don't know, I've heard a lot of stories about abused animals. Like orphaned baby elephants waking up screaming from nightmares. Most likely from watching there herd mates shot down...Abused dogs nervous around people...ect.

The thing I think of when I read the title of this thread was also art. Its one of the best things about humans. Art, film, literature, music...
Though I guess that could be argued against also. Some primates paint. Also this dog in my state does strange things with his stuffed animal toys. He places them in geometric shapes(usually triangles) around the backyard. He places them be theme(all sheep toys/all cat toys) or position(face up/face down) ect. Saw it on the National Geographic Channel a few days ago. Weird stuff.

[outwarddoodles]

You wanna know what seperates humans from other animals? Paperwork.

We're not afraid of the vacuum cleaner, either. xD

[ravaged_warrior]

I gotta question this primate painting thing... Is it mimicry and playing, or are they actually attempting to draw something? What pictures I've found on Google doesn't seem to support the latter, which I honestly find unfortunate. Maybe I'm just missing something, or maybe those are bad examples.

EDIT: I saw two maybes.