"How is a person different from an animal?" — eternal question, which occupies the minds of both scientists and ordinary people. And this continues, apparently, as long as there is light. Someone who behaves inappropriately can be called an animal - as if it is humiliating human dignity. And cats, dogs and other pets are credited with quite human character traits and even their resemblance to their owners is found. This idea is fixed in a sign: pets look like their owners. Is the difference between homo sapiens and those whom we used to call smaller brothers really so great?

Differences between man and animal

FROM biological point vision and man, and unicellular bacterium- twin brothers, since both are organisms. But man is incommensurably more complex mechanism, overgrown in addition to biological qualities also pronounced physical, social, spiritual and many others. Scientists describe the differences between animals and people in different ways, but in general they can be reduced to five points:

1. Man has speech and thought.
2. He is capable of conscious creativity.
3. It transforms reality and creates the material and spiritual values ​​necessary for life, that is, it creates culture.
4. Makes and uses tools.
5. In addition to biological, it also satisfies spiritual needs.

However, scientists are ready to argue with at least three of these points.

There are fewer differences between humans and animals than scientists thought

Item #1: Thinking and Speech

It is generally accepted that only a person is able to think in the forms of judgment, reasoning and inference. In addition, his consciousness can perform various operations with information: analyze, synthesize, compare, abstract, concretize and generalize. Among animals, the ability to think was previously found only in monkeys, and then exclusively in humanoids, and not in all, but only in some species.

The ability to speak was also attributed exclusively to humans. Among the arguments in favor of this statement were the ability to transmit and perceive information, as well as the use of various methods such as letters or music. Today's science looks at the question softer, and there are reasons for this, confirmed by experiments.

In 2013, Finnish scientists published the results of a study conducted on dogs. During the experiment, the animals were shown photographs different people: familiar and unfamiliar eared participants. The researchers monitored the dogs' eye movements and brain activity. It turned out that the watchdogs held their eyes when they saw familiar faces, and their brains were working more actively at that time. Before the experiment, science was of the opinion that only humans and primates had the ability to recognize from photographs.

In 2013, a joint team of researchers from America and Japan announced that cats recognize the voices of their owners. The experiment was carried out on 20 purrs, and 15 of them - that is, 75% - went to the call of the owner, having heard his voice from another room. The remaining 5% of the "participants" did not move, but clearly reacted to the sound. Appeals of strangers were ignored by the animals.

In 2014, scientists from the UK received interesting results during an experiment on the perception of speech by dogs. It turned out that close friends of a person understand speech and recognize emotions. The researchers figured this out by analyzing the head movements of the dogs. So, to phrases uttered without emotion, the animals, listening, turned their heads in right side, and on what was said indistinctly, but emotionally - to the left.

Scientists proceeded from the premise that information processed in one of the hemispheres is perceived as heard by the opposite ear. That is, the phrase that the animal perceives with the left ear is processed by the right hemisphere, and vice versa. According to the results, it turned out that the distribution of the functions of the cerebral hemispheres in dogs almost completely corresponds to that in humans: the right one processes information related to emotions, and the left one is responsible for analytical thinking.

The language of dolphins deserves special attention. It has been studied for a very long time and intently. Scientists have found that these animals communicate a lot with each other and use about 190 different signals for this, mainly whistles, clicks, buzzes, squeaks, etc. And this is not counting the so-called sign language - like people, dolphins transmit information from movement, body position and head position.

Moreover, the dolphin language has a syntax. This means that animals can collect separate “words” or “phrases” that have their own meaning in various combinations and, thus, form new meanings. (By the way, the same property was recently discovered in the language of tits.) Dolphins live in families, and each of them has its own "dialect". And these animals are able to remember familiar “voices” for more than 20 years.

In addition to their language, dolphins have syntax and dialects.

It is known that bottlenose dolphins can learn the signals that a person gives them. In addition, both dolphins and cetaceans are able to imitate the sounds they hear. However, in 2014, scientists found that killer whales don't just repeat what they hear, they use what they learn to communicate. The researchers analyzed the speech of orcas living in captivity and compared it with the language of the same animals that only lived in the dolphinarium, next to the bottlenose dolphins.

It turned out that cetaceans more often used sounds from the speech of dolphins, and one of the killer whales even mastered the signals learned by bottlenose dolphins from humans. Thus, killer whales were able to learn the language of another animal species and use it for communication. which speaks not only of communication skills these animals, but also about highly developed thinking.

Item number 2: Making and using tools

It is generally accepted that only people for production wealth capable of making tools. Some higher animals can use natural materials like sticks and stones, but they themselves do not create tools. Scientists argue that this statement is not entirely true. Firstly, our smaller brothers are still able to transform natural tools so that they can be used to achieve their goals. And secondly, not only higher animals are capable of this, as was previously thought.

In 2011, British and New Zealand researchers discovered this ability in the New Caledonian raven. The birds had to extract pieces of meat from cylinders filled with water using "pebbles" made of metal and plastic. The crows chose "tools" that helped them raise the liquid level faster. Based on the results of the experiment, the researchers concluded that the birds are able to assess the mass and shape of the "pebbles", and also understand when attempts to get food are fruitless and it is time to stop them.

By the way, it is interesting that these skills were more pronounced in wild ravens than in those kept in captivity. Four years later, in 2015, scientists managed to capture on video another skill of the New Caledonian ravens. It turned out that these birds can bend twigs in the shape of a hook, so that they can then get food from cracks in the tree bark with them and stir up fallen leaves in search of something tasty.

New Caledonian ravens solve puzzles at the level of five-year-olds!

In 2012, similar skills were recorded in New Zealand parrots. To get the calcium necessary for the body, the birds took date stones or small pebbles in their beaks and rubbed them with mollusk shells that lay at the bottom of the cage, and licked the resulting powder. The birds lived in one of the British natural parks, and newcomers periodically got into their company. The old-timers even taught the newcomers this "art": they took a tool in their beak and showed how to handle it.

Even invertebrates, in particular octopuses, use tools. In 2009, scientists managed to shoot such scenes. Octopuses have adapted to use coconut shells as protection. It is interesting that the mollusks carry this “armor” from place to place, for which they have to do difficult manipulations. First, the octopus looks for a good shell (or two - this also happens).

To do this, he washes the find. Having found the right one, he places his body in it, and if there are two halves, he puts them one into the other. Climbing into the shell, he puts forward the tentacles and moves, sorting through them. Having reached the destination, the mollusk burrows into the sand and hides with a “shell”. And if necessary, it can climb into one half and cover the other.

In the same year, scientists were able to document how the fish used the tool. The Pacific fish Choerodon anchoago, to open the shell of a mollusk, used a stone, and not the first one that came across. She found a shell and went in search of a suitable stone and, finding it, began to beat it with an invertebrate shell until it opened. And, of course, the use of tools is characteristic of primates. So, chimpanzees not only use tools, but also take over from relatives as much as possible effective ways their applications.

Having received a tool, the monkeys learn how to use it effectively.

Bonobo monkeys use to solve different tasks various tools. When they were offered to get food from under the rubble, they used deer antlers to remove a layer of stones, loosened the soil with short branches, and dug with long ones. The female bonobo, who lived in the zoo, made a kind of spear to scare off annoying researchers: she removed knots and bark from a long stick, and then sharpened it with her teeth. At the same time, as scientists are sure, the animal borrowed the idea from zoo employees who used similar devices.

Capuchins not only use stones to crack nuts, but also analyze the effectiveness of their actions. These monkeys after each blow check how successful he was, and change tactics in order to achieve a result as soon as possible.

Item #3: Biological and Spiritual Needs

It is generally accepted that along with biological needs, a person also satisfies social and spiritual ones. This is opposed to the desire to satisfy only the biological in animals. But this is not entirely true either. Do animals have spiritual needs? complex issue. However, the fact that they are not limited to biological ones is no longer in doubt among scientists.

Thus, animals are certainly capable of experiencing what humans call emotions. Cats enjoy petting. In 2001, scientists discovered that lab rats enjoy being tickled. The animals even reacted to her with squeaks, a bit like laughter. True, it is impossible to hear this - the rats "laughed" at frequencies that are not perceived by the human ear.

It's been proven that dogs experience jealousy - and hence other emotions.

Scientists have also been able to experimentally prove that dogs experience jealousy. In 2014, researchers from University of California tested on 36 dogs. Each of them has three "competitors" - soft toy, a bucket in the shape of a pumpkin and an animated plastic dog. The owner had to “communicate” with the latter: stroke, talk, read books.

During the experiment, the dogs were angry and aggressive, almost a third of them - 30% - went out of their way to get the attention of the owner, and a quarter even snapped at the toy. The bucket was considered dangerous only by 1% of the experimental balls. Interestingly, despite the definitely artificial nature of the toy, absolute majority dogs - 86% - sniffed it under the tail, as they do with relatives. Obviously, the bobbies mistook the "rivals" for real animals.

Perhaps the most revealing in this regard is the attitude towards sex. The reproductive instinct is the strongest, because it ensures the survival of the species. However, numerous studies confirm that animals indulge carnal pleasures not only for procreation, but also for pleasure. So, for example, female bonobo monkeys and white-faced capuchins copulate with males not only during the period when they are ready for fertilization.

Dolphins also have sex for pleasure. The females of these mammals are able to bear and give birth to a baby only once every few years, but cases of closeness between individuals occur much more often. Homosexuality and inter-individual contact are also common among them. different ages when one of them is not yet ready to perform a reproductive function. Cases of homosexuality are also found in the same bonobos, white-faced capuchins and brown bears.

Dolphins have sex for more than just procreation!

The example of dolphins is indicative in yet another way. Animals in captivity have been seen attempting to bond closely with members of other species. Scientists have noticed that dolphins can "offer" sex to their neighbors. Our smaller brothers also practice oral sex. Scientists have documented this behavior in the already mentioned brown bears, primates, goats, cheetahs, bats, lions, spotted hyenas and sheep.

Man VS animal: who will win?

As we see, animals are not yet able to create culture and create for their own pleasure. Or do we just not know about it? Science is developing, researchers are discovering more and more amazing details from the life of our neighbors on the planet. For example, the behavior of octopuses, fish, dolphins and cetaceans for a long time remained a mystery. All because the technology did not allow to observe them in natural environment and just as the scientists wanted.

But time runs, technologies are improving, and now researchers can look into the most hidden corners of the universe. Even attach tiny cameras to bird tails, as happened with New Caledonian ravens. Three out of five myths about the difference between people and animals have already been dispelled. Who knows, maybe the revolutionary news that will smash the remaining two to smithereens will appear tomorrow? Who knows. And is it really that important?

Every year, scientists learn more about the mind of animals.

It is unlikely that any of us will be fundamentally better and more perfect. Man has mastered the nearest space- and at the same time powerless in the face of a superbug that arose due to the thoughtless use of antibiotics by himself. People have come up with the most perfect weather stations - and continue to die from tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, although animals learn about the upcoming disaster much earlier and manage to escape. The most complex structure human relations still unable to compete with the ideal hierarchy built by bee colonies and anthills.

Man is just a part of the animal kingdom. So, perhaps, the most reasonable would be to consider Homo sapiens as a component natural diversity. Perfect, beautiful and deserving of existence and development - but no more than a blue whale or the smallest caterpillar deserve it. Because it is diversity that ensures stability and continuation of life on Earth. And plants, animals, and people aspire to this. The basic instinct has not yet been canceled.

If you ask questions about how a person differs from an animal and what place he occupies in nature, then you should first determine what their similarities are.

According to one of the many theories, Homo sapiens comes from an animal. At the primitive level, there are definitely similarities between humans and animals: a skeleton, functional system vital organs, the presence of reflexes and instincts.

In science already collected a large number of information confirming the unity of the origin of all living creatures on the planet. For example, the proof of this statement should be taken by the fact that the structure contains identical elements that perform similar functions.

Much in common is found between man and ape. Deoxyribonucleic acid in humans and macaques share more than 65% of the same genes. More thoroughly human DNA converges with chimpanzees - 93%. Monkeys also distinguish between blood groups and the Rh factor. By the way, the Rh factor was originally discovered in Rhesus monkeys, hence the name.

Well, the similarity of all representatives of life on Earth, including humans, leaves no questions. What is the difference between man and animal?

First of all, different from animals is special form thinking that is unique to humans is conceptual thinking. It is based on logic, connectedness, awareness, specificity. Thus, a person differs from an animal in the ability to build logical chains, complex algorithms thinking.

Animals can also perform intricate actions, but such behavior can be traced only in the manifestations of instincts that are inherited along with the genes from the ancestors. Animals perceive the situation as it appears, because they do not have the ability to abstract.

A person is close to such concepts as analysis, synthesis, comparison, which come from the originally set goal.

What is the difference between a person and an animal, according to the great scientist I.P. Pavlova? He believed that a pronounced feature is the presence of a second signaling system, which is responsible for both the animal and the person can pick up sounds, but only a person is able to use speech. With the help of language, he informs other people about the events of the past, present and future, thereby conveying to them social experience. A person can even put his fantasy into words, which is completely inaccessible to other living beings.

Words are a kind of signal to external stimulus. Observations show that the second signaling system has the ability to improve, and only when a person communicates with his own kind.

It follows from this that the development of speech is social character. It is the conscious possession of speech that is the main thing that distinguishes a person from an animal. Indeed, thanks to the language, each person uses the totality of knowledge gained in the practice of society for many centuries. He is given the opportunity to know phenomena that he has not encountered before.

As for animals, they acquire knowledge and skills only through personal experience. This also determines the dominant place of man in the system of the animal world.

Once Erich Fromm noted that “Self-consciousness, imagination and reason have long destroyed the connection inherent in animal life. The appearance of these categories turned a person into a quirk, a complete anomaly. Man is a part of nature, but at the same time he is isolated. Man is reasonable. The creation of the mind doomed it to constant striving and new solutions. Human life is dynamic, it never stands still. But at the same time, he must be aware of the meaning of existence - this is exactly what distinguishes a person from an animal.

Man and animal are very similar to each other. The human and animal organisms are similar in composition, structure and behavior - various reactions and processes. The functions of the human and animal bodies are identical, the human embryo develops in the same stages as the animal embryo. And, in the end, a person still has some rudimentary organs that are inherent in animals (for example, an appendix). But what distinguishes a man from his smaller brothers? How is a person different from an animal?

Speaking and showing

stages human thinking: reasoning, judgment, conclusion, as well as many mental operations(as the ability to analyze, generalize, trace logical connections) are not characteristic of animals. Also, a person is able to exchange information with others like himself using articulate speech, as well as printed signs and writing signs. The conversation of animals is a set of sounds and signals with which they can warn each other about danger and other events. In the language of animals there is no information about any abstract concepts, as well as about past and future events.

Roles and masks

A person takes certain social roles, he can change his behavior and his desires. A person can foresee the consequences of his actions and, depending on that, correct his actions. A person evaluates everything around him and, based on the results of this assessment, behaves in one way or another. Animals also play certain roles: leader and subordinate members of the pack, mother and children, male and female. But these roles are not predetermined by reason, but by the instincts that are inherent in them by nature from birth. The animal cannot change its mind and choose any other role for itself. In addition, the human psyche in most cases develops according to the era of time, that is, it depends on historical and social conditions. Animal world did not change over time and always remained the same in relation to its device as we see it now.

Patience and work

A person is able to improve his environment if it causes him discomfort, he is able to make tools himself and use them. The animal adapts to the place in which it lives and acts in life, obeying the surrounding laws. An animal can break off a stick or roll a stone for certain purposes (for example, beaver dams or bird nests). But no species of animal is capable of making a tool of labor in order to use it later.

spiritual thoughts

Man not only seeks to satisfy his natural needs in food, warmth and procreation, but also spiritual aspirations. Therefore, in human world there are such concepts as art, religion, philosophy and similar sciences. The animal does not have such a need and satisfies only its minimal physiological needs, which nature dictates to it.

Upright posture and hairline

Man, among other things, differs from animals in upright posture and scanty hair in comparison with the fur and wool of his smaller brothers. But this difference also has its deviations. For example, a giraffe is also characterized by upright posture, and sphinx cats, like humans, do not have a pronounced hairline.

DNA level

Each somatic nucleated cell of the human body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. Not so long ago, scientists found that the human genome contains 212 copies of the MGC8902 gene, which, in turn, encodes the DUF1220 protein. The function of this protein is unknown, but it is known that this protein is found in the neurons of the brain. The number of copies of the MGC8902 gene (212) in humans is much higher than in the chimpanzee genome (37) or in the mouse and rat genome (1). Scientists put forward the theory that repeated copying of this gene has become one of the reasons for human evolution.

How is a person different from an animal? Often this topic becomes the subject of philosophical and religious disputes. Often there are ideas that there are no differences, that all people are shaved, washed and dressed in costumes animals. Perhaps that is the way it is. But animals would not be able to write these articles, and certainly would not be able to read and think about them. Here are the key differences.

Psychologists distinguish between true (reasonable) needs and imaginary (unreasonable, false) needs. Satisfaction of only imaginary needs leads to physical and spiritual degradation of the individual and society, damages nature and society. Express your attitude to this opinion and justify it with three arguments based on facts public life and social science knowledge.

Part C

Position of agreement with the opinion - three arguments:

1 . There is currently such a global economic problem as depletion of natural resources. This problem is understood as the insufficiency of natural resources at the disposal of people, for example, minerals, water, soil, forest resources. All this is connected with the so-called "non-saturation" of human needs, about which the Russian psychologist and philosopher S.L. Rubinshtein spoke. American psychologist A. Maslow, describing human needs, A. Maslow described a person as a “desiring being”, which rarely reaches a state of complete, complete satisfaction.

2 . It is known from history that Adolf Hitler attacked Russia on June 22, 1941. His goal was

conquest of the country. The motive for the conquest was the need for power, because. Hitler wanted to get world domination. Great Patriotic War 1941 - 1945 brought huge destruction and numerous victims to Russia and pushed the development of the country back several years. From all of the above, we can conclude that the satisfaction of imaginary needs causes enormous, and sometimes even irreparable damage to society and leads to its degradation.

3. An important role among the motives of human activity is played by drives - mental states expressing unconscious or insufficient conscious need. This is exactly what the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist S. Freud thought, saying that the unconscious is the main source of motives for human activity.

For example, the motives for the actions of the famous serial maniac A. Chikatilo were the insults and humiliations suffered by him in childhood and adolescence. He committed 53 proven murders because he wanted to satisfy his need for sexual gratification by watching people die and suffer. The conclusion is clear imaginary needs maniac, first, contradicted moral standards society, secondly, brought death, grief and suffering to society.

• possesses thinking and articulate speech
• capable of conscious purposeful creative activity
• in the process of activity transforms the surrounding reality, creates the necessary material and spiritual benefits and values
• able to make tools and use them as a means of producing material goods
• reproduces not only biological entity, therefore, must satisfy not only material, but also spiritual needs

Human	Animals
Thinking and articulate speech
Characteristic different forms thinking (judgment, reasoning, inference). Has different mental operations (analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, concretization, generalization)	Some higher (humanoid) monkeys have thinking and communication capabilities. For example, the Soviet researcher Ladygina-Kots, based on many years of experimental studies singled out some mental operations in monkeys (analysis and synthesis).
With the help of articulate speech, he can convey information about the world around him through modern information means, including the Internet.	"Conversation" of animals - various signals that are necessary for the survival of an individual and species; these signals do not carry any information about the past and the future, as well as about any abstract concepts.
He knows how to reflect reality not only with the help of speech, but also with the help of music, painting, and other figurative forms.
Conscious purposeful creative activity
Models his behavior and can choose different social roles.	They obey instinct in their behavior, their actions are initially programmed. Do not separate yourself from nature.
He has the ability to foresee the long-term consequences of his actions, the nature and direction of the development of natural processes.
Expresses a value attitude to reality.
Transformation of the surrounding reality, creation of the necessary material and spiritual benefits
Produces material and spiritual benefits (practical and spiritual activities), creates a "second nature" - culture.	adapt to environment which defines their way of life. They cannot make fundamental changes in the conditions of their existence.
Production of tools and their use as a means of production of material goods
Able to influence the environment with specially made means of labor, the creation of artificial objects that enhance physical abilities person.	Can (highly developed animals) use natural tools (sticks, stones) for certain purposes. But, no animal species is capable of making tools and applying them in practice.
Biological, social, spiritual needs
Satisfies not only biological, but also social and spiritual needs. Spiritual needs are associated with the formation of the spiritual (inner) world of a person.	Satisfy only biological needs associated with instincts.

Maslow's pyramid of needs.

Need - the need experienced and perceived by a person for what is necessary to maintain

organism and the development of its personality.

I. Primary (congenital):

1. physiological - satisfaction of natural instincts:

Thirst, hunger, rest, physical activity, reproduction of the genus, breathing, clothing, dwelling

2. existential(from Latin "existentia" - existence) - the need for security and safety:

security of existence, comfort, job security, accident insurance, confidence in the future

HUMAN

Man as a product of biological, social and cultural evolution

human being

Human needs and abilities

Human activity, its main types

Activity and creativity

Communication as an activity

The purpose and meaning of human life

Personality

Inner world human

Conscious and unconscious

Man as a product of biological, social and cultural evolution

Human- this is the highest level living organisms on Earth, the subject of socio-historical activity and culture.

Man, like all other beings, is a part of nature and a product of natural, biological evolution. Anthropologists have traced biological evolution from higher primates before modern man. This process is called ANTHROPOGENESIS (from the words "anthropos" - man and "genesis" - origin).

Most distant ancestor man - driopithecus, who lived 14-20 million years ago. Next come the Ramapithecus (10-14 million years ago). Ramapithecus gave two evolutionary lines: one - the ancestors of people, the other - the ancestors of modern great apes. Somewhere 2.5-3 million years ago, ape-like people appeared who made primitive stone tools. Scientists called this creature Homo habilis (Homo habilis - a skilled man). The date of its appearance modern science considers the beginning of anthropogenesis and the formation of human society.

Next in the evolutionary series are Pithecanthropes, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons. Cro-Magnons - the pinnacle of anthropogenesis, a man of modern physical type. It appeared about 30-40 thousand years ago and received in science Homo name sapiens ( Homo sapiens- a reasonable person). Homo sapiens refers to primates, one of the orders of mammals.

Like everything creature he breathes, consumes various natural products, exists as a biological body, is born, grows, matures, ages and dies. He, like an animal, is characterized by instincts, vital needs, biologically programmed patterns of behavior.

But at the same time, a person is different from any animal (see diagram).

Differences between man and animal

Human

Animal

1. Produces its own environment (housing, clothing, tools) by changing and transforming nature. 2. Changes the world not only according to their physical needs, but also according to the laws of knowledge of the world, morality and beauty, spiritual needs. 3. Being universal and able to act and produce "by the standards of any kind." 4. People's needs are constantly changing and growing. 5. It develops according to two programs: biological (instincts) and socio-cultural. 6. He makes his life activity an object, i.e. relates to it meaningfully, purposefully changes, plans, possesses consciousness.

1. Uses what is available in the environment, adapts to nature. 2. Changes the world according to the needs of his species, focusing solely on the satisfaction of physical needs (hunger, procreation instinct, etc.). 3. Cannot overcome its specific limitation. 4. Needs practically do not change. 5. The existence of animals is guided only by instincts. 6. An animal is identical to its life activity and does not distinguish it from itself.

Exist different points view on the question of what factor had a decisive influence on the evolution of man and the formation of such striking differences between man and animals.

This is an activity approach (i.e. the role of activity, labor), socializing (i.e. the role of play, communication), culturological (the role of the formation and development of language, consciousness, morality), etc. An integrated approach takes into account all these factors and proceeds from the fact that biological evolution man took place along with social and cultural evolution (see diagram).

The relationship of biological, social and cultural evolution of man

(according to Leroy Gourhan)

Thus, as a result of a long biological, social and cultural evolution, a person appeared as biosocial being possessing articulate speech, consciousness, higher mental functions, capable of creating tools and using them in the process social labor that transforms nature.