"There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties. . . .?

Question

The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind."

how many people find this to be true, and those who dont can you please explain why.

please make it a worthwhile explanation, that has been thought about for more than 5 sec.

to translate it, "peoples brains are the same as animals, just superior"

proof, Jenie. A girl raised in captivity, could not learn language and did not even know what a smile was. There was also another boy found to be raised in the woods. Neither of these people were taught language so niether of them knew it, my point is, you would knot know what you know if you were never taught. If we hadnt of invented language we would not have words that we place meaning on, which emotions are derived from.
Nature or Nurture, well its nurture. You are physically the way you are, and the rest is taught

Answer 1

Turn the proposition around.

If there were differences of kind, what would those differences be?

Language, tool making, learned (as opposed to innate) culture, self awareness, abstract reasoning and moral behaviour have all been proposed as points of difference between humans and other animals. All have been shown to not be unique to humans, although humans have developed them to greater degrees than most other animals.

So I'd agree that on current evidence the cognitive difference is a matter of degree, not kind.

Answer 2

Depending on your "take on things" everything will be of "degree" and not of "kind". Argument needs specifics, I suppose. Honestly, intersesting subject but what do you mean exactly. Higher mammals are...?

Lets say higher mammals are, more sophisticated animals. Able to act accrodingly to situations in which intelligence and skill are required. Lets go even further to say they are able to "create" and implement tools. Who's to say that animal has anything in common whith humanity?

I for one have never seen an animal "fashion" any kind of tool. To aquire a piece of grass that termites crawl on to does not do a fair comparison to the human mind. The apes that do form and create proper tools are in captivity. That's not fair grounds for origianl intelligence. Animals are made to copy. That is how their brains work. It is not stimulus that works the brain as in humans, it is repetition and failure or otherwise death. A human needs only to imagine and predict(with accuracy) where as an animal will have irrational caution (as a species). The human mind is a blessed creation.

I think that the human mind of such drastic incease in degree that it essential is a different kind. That is all I mean by anything may be a degree. Our brains are all set off by the same electrical and chemical signals and made of the same tissues. That is where degree comes to be. We have inferior sense of smell to that of a dog but at the same time a memory of a specific smell from our childhood can still come back to us in old age. Maybe animals will remember every smell that they ever come across. That is the degree.

But we are also of a different kind. The side of the human mind that is so far superior to that of the animals and the higher mammals that we often try to relate to. We are creatures of the greatest mental extremes. The ability to love with a deeper passion than any animal will ever know. The linger of hate that sits for years in your mind. What "higher mammal" can exceed us. We are more than simply an evolutionary quirk that discovered exponential growth. We are more than addapted or evolving. We are soul driven. No creature compares, they do not have the cappacity of mind to try. The creatures can see the world as a place, man can imagine his mind is a place.

You may be able to put every mind on the scale of degree, even ours, but that does not mean that we have not become something else entirely.

Answer 3

I will have to research this in some books written by dogs or some web sites set up by some monkeys. Wait, the turtle just told me that the server is down, but he can have it ready in an hour. The rabbits are delivering parts for the hardware problem in about ten minutes.

Answer 4

There is a huge difference between man and animals, man is the only one I've seen driving cars, building buildings, engineering all kinds of things. If you do not know there is a huge difference I feel sorry for you.

Answer 5

I agree to a certain degree;but I also believe humans are not animals;made of the same stuff maybe,but we ourselves are not animals;anyone saying humans are just animals is making an excuse for us to not be held responsible for our greater knowledge and understanding.

Answer 6

I don't see your point. Even if we share traits, animals don't have the gift of a soul, nor free reasoning, nor the boon of free will. And yet, for all this reasons animals can't and don't speak against the Lord, something that many people do.

Answer 7

Hard to answer. Dolphins and chimpanzees have been know to have thought process and cognitive thinking and awareness of self. But because of the language barrier it's hard to know by how much. Definitely they don't have the language abilities we do.

Answer 8

Animals, like people, come from their
own centers.

Answer 9

Man not only has an opposable thumb,,,,but the intellect to use it.

Answer 10

But that's just a proposition. Prove it! How would you prove it?