On 21 Dec 95 11:01:31 EST you wrote:
JB>This is to anyone on the reflector --a general question.
>
>What distinguishes humanity from all other forms of life?
>
>I mean, 1. Without any controversy -- everyone agrees.
> 2. Absolutely, not just more (or less) of something.
>
>Examples are needed to tell what in the dickens I'm talking about!
>
>Communications/speech does not qualify; many animals (most?)
>communicate with one another quite well.
[...]
Communication is not the same as language. A complex symbolic
language is IMHO the key determinate of humanity and the image of God.
Nelson & Jurmain ask "What is Human?" and answer:
"...Because australopithecines, the early hominids, did not possess
all the criteria we assign to humans, especially a complex brain, most
anthropologists are reluctant to refer to them as humans. The concept
"human" is more difficult to clarify. What makes human beings unique
and thereby different from all other animals is a perplexing and
age-old question that has been the subject of religious,
philosophical, and sociological inquiry. Human uniqueness is based on
two general classes of criteria: biological and behavioral.