Man's Subsistence and Animal Existence

Abstract

The distinctions between humans and animals can be studied on many levels. In our quest for the answer to the query regarding the differences between these two worlds, we must look at five distinctive properties, namely the use and manufacture of tools, tradition, advancement, abstraction and self-awareness. Through our analysis we shall establish the prevalent distinctions between human and animal behaviour regarding the aforementioned five properties. As regards the use of tools, the difference lies in the fact that animal tool behaviour has been found to be merely elementary, while an incomparably higher level of development has been attained in the case of humans. Furthermore, human sociality differs from that of animals owing to the presence of tradition and language in the original sense of the word. Therefore, through education the human race advances, while on the other hand the animal kingdom remains static. Abstraction and self-awareness conclusively represent the most expressed differences between humans and animals and must be attributed completely to the reality of reason which has been bestowed upon the human race. This paper is based on the approach of J.M. Bochenski, one of the most eminent logicians of the twentieth century. His five distinctive features listed above are compared with the findings of other researchers in the fields of biology, cultural and philosphical anthropology, psychology, cognitive psychology and cognitive ethology.