Comparing Humans to Animals

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Michael Henderson Professor Thomas Lombardi English 102 August 23, 2014 Comparing Humans to Animals Mark Twain with painstaking and fatiguing observation concludes the man didn't ascend from lower animals but descended from higher animals. Mark Twain makes some valid points with his comparison of man to animals but misses some very important points by not taking into consideration man has emotion, conscience, morals and can think for himself. People can compare a lot of things in life: Apples to oranges, tea to green tea and Coke to Pepsi. Yes, these are in some way the same but in some ways very different; just like Mark Twain compared man to animals. He states “That the human race is of one distinct species. It exhibits slight variations (in color, stature, mental caliber and so on) due to climate, environment, and so forth; but it is a species by itself, and not to be confounded with any other”. (Twain 1). So, if the human race should not be confounded with any other how can Mark Twain compare man to animals? The reason why Mark Twain can compare humans to animals is there are some human attributes that can be found in animals; however, just because there are some similar attributes one cannot compare animals to humans. For instance emotion and language can be found in gorillas and humans. Take Koko the world-famous signing gorilla. Koko knows over 1,000 signs of ASL (American Sign Language) and can communicate just like a human does. As for the emotional part, Koko met Robin Williams in 2001 they became special friends. When Koko learned that her special friend had died she withdrew, signed the word ‘cry’, sat in the corner with her lip quivering. (Link provided, see below). Humor is another shared attribute between animals and humans. Gorillas have been observed laughing when another gorilla falls or when tickled. However, just because humor can

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