Different

Humans are living, breathing organisms. Like any other organism, we need sustenance and use resources in order to stay alive. We have a series of parameters in which we can live and depend heavily on our interactions with many other organisms. However, humans have dominated the earth because of their higher capacity to feel and think. Just like any other two organisms, humans have many similarities with our wild counterparts, but there are also an infinity of differences, physically, and more importantly, mentally and emotionally. Over the course of this class, we have frequently discussed what makes us human and what differentiates us from other organisms. What has allowed us to create this empire on the earth? Our capability of collaborating, empathising, evaluating, and remembering in ways that no other organism seems to have the capacity to do has enabled us to create complex social structures and still remain individuals.

One of the most important things humans are capable of is evaluating ourselves. We are able to scientifically learn about how our bodies and minds work, and how our actions affect our communities and the globe. We learned about how the hemispheres of the brain have unique qualities, and although these ideas are disputed, the concept of identifying traits and evaluating the reasons behind them is uniquely human. The right and left brain idea (from Leonard Shlain’s The Alphabet vs. The Goddess) as well as the poem Toward Climax by Gary Snyder, are examples of how humans can form conclusions based on observations and share their unique opinion about them. Humans also have the capacity to remember. Not only do humans remember most of their own lives but the oral traditions we discussed showed how humanity remembers our own history. Humans also evaluate our origins. Most religions have a creation story such as christianity’s Genesis. In this, the story of both the earth and the existence of humans was given, as was an explanation for some aspects of human nature. This gives humans something to understand and believe in, which is utterly unique from other organisms.

One of the closest similarities to animals that humans possess is our relationship with nature and our appreciation for locations and spaces. What sets us apart, however, is our tendencies to tie these spaces to the spiritual and supernatural worlds that we believe in. In National Geographic’s Australia’s Aborigines the locals worshipped caves and rock structures because of their apparent connection to their myths. They believed that the spirits lived in the caves and went there to pray or make connections with the dead. Similarly, in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest the island is a vessel for all sorts of magical endeavors. The island takes on a mysterious feeling, which only supports the magical intrigue in the play’s plot.  In human history, location and geography has played a huge part in the customs and culture of different peoples. For example, the Amazonians in Michel de Montaigne’s Of Cannibals carry the wild traits of their wilderness. Despite the fact that they are more similar to animals than almost any other civilization, they are still more sophisticated than animals because of their capability to create complex social structures and define rules in their community, which in this case would be similar to the honor code that their warriors followed.

Humans are extremely unique in the fact that we have the capacity to identify beauty and feel love, then create art out of those emotions. We can feel things that other organisms are unable to feel, such as envy, love, and sadness. The human mind consists of a complex and variable soup of emotions that are rarely cause and effect, as most animals would feel. Stories like that of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde exemplify this. The characters exhibit extreme emotion and desire and passion that drives their actions through much of the book. Part of the human condition is this struggle with emotion. Dorian Grey explains that he doesn’t “want to be at the mercy of [his] emotions. [He wants] to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” Additionally, that emotion is tied to a painting. The use of art in this way displays our use of art as a manifestation of emotion in an image. From Wilde’s ideas that art should exist for its own sake to Kant’s ideas about art being the manifestation of the sublime, many philosophers made the connection between emotion and art. Additionally, they recognized the significance of humans to be able to identify things as beautiful. For thousands of years, people have been creating art that expresses their feelings and discusses the beauty they see in the world around them. Ancient love poetry mused about goddesses and mortals who exemplified beauty and desire. The Egyptians and Greeks used art and poetry to express their concepts of beauty and their emotions. Since the developments of art and writing, creativity has been a way for humans to express themselves in ways that separate us from animals.

Like many other organisms, humans have created complex social structures and developed a series of behaviors. However, humans alone have created laws and codes of ethics by which to live. Each society, religion, and community has developed certain ideas about morals and behaviors. For example, religious texts such as the Ten Commandments and The Holiness Code provide outlines of ideal behaviors, even if breaking them is in human nature. Humans have the motive to create laws and rules that benefit the entire community, where in nature, each organism is, for the most part, out for self improvement. In The Stranger by Albert Camus, we saw how humans are able to evaluate their own guilt and to feel (or not feel) remorse. Unlike other organisms, these feelings aren’t brought on by punishment or pain, but by our own consciences. Similarly, in Galapagos, Vonnegut explores how as humans transform into more primitive organisms, their consciences begin to disappear. They no longer feel guilt or restrain themselves because of rules. Many of the philosophers we have studied have disputed the roles of rules and ethics in our society. Some, such as Nietzsche and Wilde, believed that the rules limit humans and our capacity to be creative and inventive, while others such as utilitarian Bentham believed that the laws set in place are wholly beneficial.

We can’t say definitively that animals do not go through inner journeys, but humans have the capacity to recognise this and attain a higher level of understanding through their experiences. Whether those realizations are religious, such as those of Job from The Story of Job and Siddhartha from Hesse’s Siddhartha, or about human frailty, such as Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet the Prince of Denmark and Gilgamesh from The Epic of Gilgamesh, most humans can recognize these ideas. Job and Siddhartha both go through strenuous physical journeys in which their faiths are tested. Many humans face similar, if less drastic, challenges in their lives, and have to identify their beliefs in order to gain happiness and fulfillment. On the other end of the spectrum, humans such as Gilgamesh and Hamlet understand the pain of fate and struggle with the unfairness they see in the world around them. Most people struggle with the concept of death, since it is a big part of life. Humans, of course are not unique in the fact that we die, but there are few other organisms that mourn death and loss in the way we do. The inner journeys that people go through in their lifetimes are full of pain and instability and questioning, but ultimately end with understanding and peace.

The main differences between animals and humans, the things that make us human, are the ability to feel and the ability to create. Humans can apply the emotions we understand to our experiences and build upon them in order to create extraordinary things. In our history, we have learned to create art and laws that express these things we have learned. We’ve developed the ability to worship and remember and reflect. We’ve begun to understand that each individual is unique and plays a role in the greater good. Biologically, this is because of our larger brain size. However, a huge part of humanity is believing in something bigger, some more significant and important aspect of our existence. Above all, humans have the capacity to believe, and that simple idea leads to so many more miraculous things.