Homo loquens. O różnicy antropologicznej
Homo loquens. On Anthropological Difference

Summary/Abstract: This essay discusses the question of the difference between human beings and non-human animals. The borderline is created by the faculty of language. Three assumptions are made and then critically discussed. The first is that the capacity for language is being unique to humans (Chomsky). The second is that language enables rational thinking (Davidson). The third is that language-like processing is the essence of human consciousness (Dennett). These three (controversial) suppositions form a difference that should be called the anthropological difference, which, in turn, establishes the so called epistemological difference. It means a different way of world-disclosure (Heidegger). It is to be supposed, then, that the non-human animals differ from human beings in kind, not just in degree. Realising this should have no ethical implications but only help grasp and describe mental processes fundamentally other than language-coordinated human thinking.

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