If one wonders how a person differs from an animal and what place it occupies in nature, then you should first determine what their similarity consists in.
According to one of many theories, Homo sapiens ( Homo sapiens ) comes from an animal. At a primitive level of similarity between humans and animals, there are definitely: a skeleton, a functional system of vital organs, the presence of reflexes and instincts.
A large amount of information has already been collected in science, confirming the unity of origin of all living creatures on the planet. For example, a proof of this statement is the fact that the structure of the animal’s cells contains the same elements that perform similar functions.
Much in common is found between man and monkey. Human and macaque deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) have more than 65% of similar genes. More thoroughly, human DNA converges with chimpanzees - 93%. In monkeys, blood groups and the Rh factor are also distinguished. By the way, the rhesus factor was originally found in rhesus monkeys, where the name comes from.
Well, the similarity of all the living on Earth, including humans, leaves no questions. But how does a person differ from an animal?
First of all, different from animals is a special form of thinking that is characteristic exclusively for humans - this is conceptual thinking. It is based on logic, connectedness, awareness, specificity. Thus, a person differs from an animal in its ability to build logical chains, complex thinking algorithms.
Animals can also carry out intricate actions, but such behavior can be traced only in manifestations of instincts, which are inherited along with genes from ancestors. The animals perceive the situation as it appears, because they do not have the ability to abstract.
But such concepts as analysis, synthesis, comparison are close to a person, which proceed from the originally set goal.
What is the difference between a person and an animal, in the opinion of the great scientist I.P. Pavlova? He believed that a pronounced feature is the presence of a second signaling system, which is responsible for speech activity. The sensory organs of both the animal and man can pick up sounds, but only humans can use speech. With the help of language, he informs other people about the events of the past, present and future, thereby transmitting social experience to them. A person can even put his imagination into words, which is completely inaccessible to other living beings.
Words are a kind of signal to an external stimulus. Observations show that it is the second signal system that has the ability to improve, and only when a person communicates with his own kind.
It follows from this that the development of speech is social in nature. It is the conscious possession of speech that is the main way that a person differs from an animal. Indeed, thanks to the language, each person uses the totality of knowledge gained in the practice of society for many centuries. He is given the opportunity to experience phenomena that he has not encountered before.
As for animals, they gain knowledge and skills only through personal experience. It also determines the dominant place of man in the system of the animal world.
Erich Fromm, a well-known psychologist, once noted that “Self-awareness, imagination and mind have long destroyed the bond inherent in animal habitation. The appearance of these categories turned a person into a fad, a continuous anomaly. Man is a part of nature, but at the same time he is isolated. Man is intelligent. The creation of the mind doomed him to constant aspiration and new solutions. Human life is dynamic, it never stands still. But at the same time, he must be aware of the meaning of existence - this is exactly how a person differs from an animal. ”