What distinguishes a person from an animal? There are many differences, but above all, it is his brain. This is the main difference between a person and an animal. Our brain is approximately 3 times larger than the brain of a chimpanzee, the closest “relative” to us from the animal world. In addition, there are other differences between humans and animals. This, for example, the ability to move on two legs. Thanks to this ability, a person was able to free two other limbs that he used for a wide variety of activities, as a result of which there was an increase in the flexibility of the hand and fine motor skills, which, in turn, according to many scientists, allowed the human brain to develop. By the way, a monkey cannot perform such an action as, for example, inserting a thread into a needle, no matter how they try to teach it to this simple, in our opinion, action. There are some other differences between humans and animals. For example, people have a fairly well-developed speech, which is able to convey the idea quite accurately.
Over the long years of their existence, people have not been able to establish any contacts with "brothers in the mind" on Earth. We can’t even imagine what a domestic dog or ants that lead to a complex organized collective life can “think” about. Man believes that he is the only thinking species on the planet. Maybe it is. At least we know that people are endowed with the ability to think about things that are very far from their immediate physiological needs for survival. Such abilities are associated with abstract thinking. Using this ability, people created civilization, developed culture, studied distant planets, wrote wonderful paintings, poems, music, built beautiful cities, were able to defeat many diseases, cold and hunger.
The biosphere as a biological system has properties associated with self-regulation. However, a person sometimes goes against the laws of nature. Wildlife can feed the number of people about a thousand times less than what lives now on planet Earth.
In practice, we well know what the differences between humans and animals are. However, what mechanisms to use to determine who is in front of us - a person or a representative of the animal world, is not so easy to formulate. In the animal kingdom there is a huge variety of species and genera, and Homo sapiens is only one of the species. Thus, it turns out that the concept of “animals” is broader, since it includes the concept of “man”!
Nevertheless, such differences between a person and an animal stand out:
- Man creates the environment for himself, transforming and changing the natural environment. An animal can only adapt to the conditions of nature.
- A person changes the world, not only conforming to his needs, but also according to the laws of knowing him, as well as morality and beauty. The animal changes the world, focusing only on the satisfaction of its physiological needs.
- Human needs are constantly growing and changing. The needs of the animal are almost unchanged.
- Man evolves through biological and socio-cultural programs. The behavior of animals obeys only instincts.
- A person is conscious about his life. The animal does not possess consciousness and follows only instincts.
- Man creates products of material and spiritual culture, creates, creates. The animal does not create or produce anything new.
- A person as a result of his activity transforms himself, his abilities, changes his needs, living conditions. Animals actually do not change anything in themselves or in external living conditions.
These are the main differences between a person and an animal.