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MAN IS THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT…(Norman)

The following is from a discussion I am a part of at America Magazine. It is a discussion of Mortimer Adler's book, "The Difference of Man, and the Difference it Makes."

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The-Difference-of-Man-and-the-Difference-It-Makes
 
Moradler
MAN IS THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT [complete this sentence at your own peril].

I am providing the following as a preliminary for a discussion. I won't get into a discussion yet. I am going to start a part of the discussion of 'The Difference of Man…' in terms of the following sentences that begin, 'Man is the only animal that…'.

You complete the sentence at your own peril, because much of what we thought was unique to humankind, has turned out not to be. Some of the following sentences are amusing, some thought provoking, and some appear to be obvious and not worth a second thought. The one thing about all of the following sentences, below, is that they have been shown, in one way or another, not to be true.

“Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War.' -Mark Twain
“Man is the Only animal that blushes. Or needs to.' -Mark Twain
“Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might of been.' -William Hazlitt
'Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.' -Erich Fromm
'Man is the only animal that is to be dreaded.' -Krishnamurti to Himself Ojai California Tuesday 26th April, 1983
'Man is the only animal that learns by being hypocritical. He pretends to be polite and then, eventually, he becomes polite.' -Jean Kerr
'Man is the only animal to use currency in this world.'
'Man is the only animal that cries.'
'Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.' -George Orwell
'Man is the only animal capable of murder.'
'Man is the only animal that is cruel.'
Man is the only animal that uses language.
Man is the only animal that uses tools.
Man is the only animal that makes tools.
Man is the only animal that has self awareness.
Man is the only animal that can reference something that is not within sight.
Man is the only animal that plans for the future.
Man is the only animal that has culture.
Man is the only animal that trades for sex.
Man is the only animal that plays for the sake of pure enjoyment.
Man is the only animal that can enjoy hurting others.
Man is the only animal that can think.
Man is the only animal that can solve problems.
Man is the only animal that has grammar.
Man is the only animal that [ INSERT HERE ].

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17 responses to “MAN IS THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT…(Norman)”

  1. Ruchira

    “Man is the only animal that spends time thinking about what only man can do?”

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  2. Rana

    ..believes in God

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  3. Sujatha

    …makes up stories about himself and other animals.

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  4. Francesco Macri

    …talks more than he should.

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  5. Pete Chapman

    is merely an animal.

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  6. Pete Chapman

    P.S. Am I the only animal that has ever wondered if William Hazlitt ever said anything worth agreeing with?(If my memory serves me well he’s the clown that suggested that Shakespeare should no longer be performed only read, there’s a special ring in hell for those fools).

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  7. John Langell

    Meta-man! Man is the only animal than does all of the things in the “Man is the only animal that ___” list.
    Each item in the list is something that man is almost alone in doing; some other species does something arguably similar. But it is generally a different species for each item, or maybe one species can perform a few behaviors. The only animal that can do them all is man.<

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  8. Don Hall

    Man is the only animal that thinks it’s the only animal that does __________ when, in reality, many other animals do the same thing.
    Fill in the blank. I’d put in words such as think, care, be cruel, use tools, play, murder, solve proble…ms, conduct war…. The list goes on.
    I would add, though, that man is the only animal that can be arrogant. We’re very good at it.

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  9. Dean C. Rowan

    …completes forms in triplicate.

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  10. Dean C. Rowan

    …forgets to close a tag.

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  11. Dean C. Rowan

    …forgets to close a tag. There. Is that better?

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  12. Ruchira

    Thanks, Dean. I closed the italics tag also.
    …woman is the only animal that cleans up after what man forgets to do.

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  13. Sujatha

    Hey, no fair, Ruchira. You pre-empted my next one.
    …who is obsessed with ‘cleaning’ the surroundings.

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  14. Norman Costa

    Yesterday, I discovered a great one – actually, several.
    Man is the only animal that spills water on his laptop.
    Man is the only animal that makes loud vocalizations after spilling water on his laptop.
    Man is the only animal that rejoices over a prior decision to get accident insurance for his laptop.

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  15. Norman Costa

    Man is the only animal that takes offence to Ruchira’s last comment and then remembers that…
    Never mind.

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  16. narayan

    … that has sex for pleasure.
    … that uses sex to degrade.
    … that is ashamed of sex.

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  17. Norman Costa

    narayan,
    Bonobos got you on “sex for pleasure.”
    Chimpansies, some of them, do a disgusting and violent form of sex degradation.
    Being ashamed? You and Mark Twain may be correct. He said, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” -Mark Twain

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