Are Humans Animals?
It is true that humans differ from other animals in terms of intelligence.
However, from a biological perspective, humans are classified as
animals! Why does this bother people, and why do people
take great measures to prove that they are not animals?
If you think about it, it is only a classification system anyway.
It is a biological classification system designed to classify any living
organism it encounters into groups according to the organism's
characteristics. Therefore, biologically we are members of the Animalia
Kingdom; we are animals (see definition 1 later in this document).
Biblically, the word animal was used in a way that made distinctions
between humans and other organisms (see definition 2).
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Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary:
animal:
1. any member of the kingdom Animalia, comprising multicellular
organisms
that have a well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move
voluntarily, actively acquire food and digest it internally, and have
sensory and nervous systems that allow them to respond rapidly to stimuli:
some classification schemes also include protozoa and certain other
single-celled eukaryotes that have motility and animal like nutrition
modes.
2. any such living thing other than a human being.
...
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Therefore, whether humans are animals or not depends on which definition
you use. So next time you hear someone bickering over this issue, tell them
that they are arguing over terminology.
That is
the Hard Core
Truth.
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