Reasoning about what a person differs from an animal

If you ask questions about how a person differs from an animal and what place it occupies in nature, you must first determine what their similarity is.

According to one of many theories, Homo Sapiens (a reasonable person) comes from an animal. At a primitive level, human resemblance to animals, of course, there are: a skeleton, a functional system of vital organs, the presence of reflexes and instincts.

In science, a large amount of information has already been collected, confirming the unity of the origin of all living creatures on the planet. For example, the proof of this assertion is to accept the fact that in the structure of animal cells there are identical elements that perform similar functions.

There is much in common between a man and a monkey. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of man and macaque has more than 65% of similar genes. More fundamentally human DNA converges with chimpanzees - 93%. Monkeys also distinguish blood groups and Rh factor. By the way, the Rh factor was originally found in monkeys of the Rhesus breed, from where the name came from.

Well, the similarity of all the representatives of the living on Earth, including man, leaves no questions. But what is the difference between an animal and an animal?

First of all, a special form of thinking, distinctive of humans, is distinct from animals - this is conceptual thinking. It is based on logic, coherence, awareness, specifics. Thus, a person differs from an animal ability to build logical chains, complex algorithms of thinking.

Animals can also carry out intricate actions, but this behavior is traced only in the manifestations of instincts, which are inherited along with the genes from the ancestors. Animals perceive the situation as it appears, because they do not have the ability to abstract.

Man is also close to such concepts as analysis, synthesis, comparison, which proceed from the goal originally set.

What distinguishes man from an animal, in the opinion of the great scientist I.P. Pavlova? He believed that a pronounced feature is the presence of a second signal system, which is responsible for speech activity. The senses of both the animal and the human can catch sounds, but only man is able to use speech. With the help of the language he informs other people about the events of the past, present and future, thereby transferring social experience to them. A person can even put on his words his fantasy, which is completely inaccessible to other living beings.

Words are a kind of signal for an external stimulus. Observations show that it is the second signaling system that has the ability to improve, and only when communicating with a similar person.

From this follows the conclusion that the development of speech is of a social nature. It is the conscious possession of speech that is the main thing that a person differs from an animal. After all, thanks to the language, each person uses a set of knowledge obtained in the practice of society for many centuries. He is given the opportunity to learn phenomena that he has not encountered before.

As for animals, they gain knowledge and skills only through personal experience. This also determines the dominant place of man in the animal world.

One day, Erich Fromm, a well-known psychologist, noted that "Self-awareness, imagination and reason have long destroyed the connection inherent in animal life. The appearance of these categories has turned a person into a fad, a continuous anomaly. Man is a part of nature, but at the same time he is separate. The person is reasonable. The creation of reason condemned him to constant aspiration and new solutions. Human life is dynamic, it never stops. But at the same time he must realize the meaning of existence - this is exactly what a person differs from an animal. "