Are humans simply just animals? Why or why not?

Answer 1

By the universality of the genetic code we are animals and to think otherwise is just ignorant.

Answer 2

Let's break it down. What separates us from plants? We each have a physical body that we use to interact with the world. A trait we share with plants and the animal kingdom. However, plants don't think or exhibit other cognitive functions other than reproduce, feed, and grow. So the animal kingdom and man are above them. The next step up is the animal kingdom. The animal kingdom like the plants seek to reproduce, feed and grow, but they have a higher level of thinking. Animals show different levels of complexity. We've learned in just the past years of animals showing at times very human actions and emotional states. Anybody with a dog or cat will be the first to tell you. They can show anger, fear, joy, love. They can conceive often times very well thought out plans to achieve an end much like humans. So where do we differ? Only man seeks to know the answer to the question "why?". Why am I here? Why do I want to go over that mountain? Why is the sky blue? We can go from asking why to pursuing the answer. Man isn't a plant or an animal. He's just man.

Answer 3

Yes.

Have you ever watched animals doing their own thing? It's easy enough to do. There's ants, birds, bees, cats, dogs, whatever. Just watch them all for several years and you will notice that they're not that different from people. They have desires, they have rules, they use tools, they exhibit pettiness, love, foresight, and most dog and cat owners will tell you that their pets dream.

Ants live their lives to a very strict social structure, a community. Their actions may seem mindless to you but bear in mind that they live a lot faster than us. We're slow, clumsy giants to them. If we could observe them at their own speed maybe we would discover that they have language.

So why put other animals on a level beneath us? Just coz we can invent things? Who made that a standard of measure? To me, it's not that "humans are just animals", but rather animals are people, a thing that some old cultures have known for millenia.

Answer 4

Humans belong to the animal kingdom, of course, and we share many characteristics with the other animals. However, we are unique in the combination of superior qualities we possess. No other animal can do all that we can do in the ways in which we do these things. (Some animals can do a few of them rather well, but none can do all of them as well as we can.) We share almost all our DNA with chimpanzees, for example, but we stand far and above chimps when it comes to our human qualities and abilities. How we got this way is an interesting subject for discussion - most of it based on guesswork or religious beliefs.

Answer 5

Hi Kindestkid,
Yes, Humans are animals....
Humans, fall under the kingdom : "Animalia"... We are in the mammalian species "Homo sapiens", belonging to the family Hominidae....
>>>>>>>>
Life, is currently divided into 6 categories : plant, animal, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria....

But, I think, animals are more honest and reliable, than humans...
You can get unconditional love, from them.... ;D

>>>>>>>>>>

Thanks, for the question!

My regards!

Answer 6

No, though we share some animal characteristics, we are the only singular species on the planet who have the ability to use our brains in an intellectual capacity. Animals' brains, though various species can be very intelligent, cannot rise above their instincts to use their brains in a reasoning, rational capacity as humans can. They operate on instinct and we largely operate on our ability to think and reason. Animals come close, especially monkeys, but are not yet able to escape their instinctual drives. Though sometimes, you'd think the world was run by monkeys, the way some countries conduct themselves on this planet!

Answer 7

The major trait that seperates us from animals is sentience, the definition of which is subject to heavy debate. Some beleive only humans are senteint, while others argue that dolphins and whales, or even dogs should join us in that catagory.

Answer 8

The only difference with other animals is that we know that we are animals.

Answer 9

Yes i believe we are animals. Look how similar we are to the monkey species (minus the hairyness) and have you ever wondered how we swim. I think its because we were once ocean dwellers. so therefore the monkey got with dolphin and produce something with 2 legs and can swim and eat bananas!

Answer 10

We are "animals" in the zoological meaning of the word. Meaning we aren't plants or fungus. We are not "animals" in the classical meaning of the word. If somebody says "stop acting like an animal" you know exactly what that means. It's just a matter of definition.