Human/Nonhuman Animals

I believe that the primary difference between humans and animals is our ability to think and reason. In "Origins," Descartes explains that animals are able to think, this is driven by instinct. For example, a dog can be taught tricks by a human, but the dog performs merely out of desire for a reward or fear of a consequence. I think that our superior ability to think is interconnected with yesterday's class discussion about pathos, logos, and ethos. While animals may feel basic emotions like desire or fear, and possess basic logic, like knowledge of what not to eat, the human capacity for these traits is far greater. Our feelings of wonder have driven us to try understand the world we live in, our logical thinking has allowed us to manipulate the world we live in to our benefit, and our ethics have enabled humans to coexist on a global scale. All of these feats were accomplished through our ability to think and reason.