Are humans really just animals?

[Politesse]

To refer to a person as an animal is to strip him of his dignity.

The creatures God created are without dignity? Whose team are you batting for here? I don't think your pride is more beautiful than anything else in creation, no. I rather approve of God's animals, ourselves included, and pride is more vice than virtue anyway.

 

[Noaidi]

Yes, humans have physical bodies that exhibit all the characteristics of life: Evolution, growth and development, metabolism, and reproduction. But I don't think you can have a Definition of Man that only looks at the physical.

What makes a man a man?
What is the essence of a human being?

Some say we have bodies, others say we are bodies.

I think you are in nebulous territory, here.
You are assuming that humans are not merely physical, thus it is incumbent upon you to demonstrate that. Also, based on your previous comments, you will have to demonstrate that non-human animals don't have this 'thing' unique to our species.

You are making a number of assertions about the supposedly-elevated status of humans, but can you back them up?

 

[Midnight Pete]

"Man is a featherless biped with broad, flat nails." - Plato

Plato's definition leaves much to be desired. He's not trying very hard, is he?

"Man is dust."

That one is just as accurate (technically) but not very useful or helpful.

 

[LuisDantas]

Yes, humans have physical bodies that exhibit all the characteristics of life: Evolution, growth and development, metabolism, and reproduction. But I don't think you can have a Definition of Man that only looks at the physical.

Looks like you simply don't like the idea.

What makes a man a man?
What is the essence of a human being?

Some say we have bodies, others say we are bodies.

Interesting and intriguing as those questions are, they make us no less animals than we are - or than, say, horses and dogs are.

Plato's definition leaves much to be desired. He's not trying very hard, is he?

I would say that he isn't trying at all. At least, not trying to reach the same conclusions that you hold so dear.

"Man is dust."

That one is just as accurate (technically) but not very useful or helpful.

Plato's is far more accurate and useful. It recognizes several characteristics that tell humans apart from most other animals, for instance. I really think that you are simply attached to the idea of man as a transcendent being.

 

[Smoke]

To refer to a person as an animal is to strip him of his dignity.

To deny it is to discount the dignity he has and imagine that only some "greater" dignity will suffice.

 

[dust1n]

Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and mostly multicellular,[4] which separates them from bacteria and most protists. They are heterotrophic,[5] generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae.[6] They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking rigid cell walls.[7] All animals are motile,[8] if only at certain life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a blastula stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals.

Animal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Humans seem to fit those characteristics; does anyone want to argue against that?

 

[DallasApple]

Yes we are animals..Just watch us have diareah and sex (well not at the same time but you know what I mean)..we are definately animals..We are smart and pretty but we are animals.

Love

Dallas