“Humans Have Evolved to Be Fundamentally Distinct from Other Animals.”
- Submitted by: ameycakes
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- Category: Science
- Date Submitted: 10/28/2013 06:11 AM
- Pages: 5
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This essay considers issues concerning language and sex that could be suggested to show distinctiveness between humans and non-humans. Primarily the focus will be from an evolutionary perspective, in which conclusions can be formed to suggest that although language has evolved, it does not necessarily determine distinctiveness, whereas the evolution of sex (more specifically gender) suggests distinctiveness in humans because of the society we live in.
Although speech is considered unique to humans, the art of communicating is apparent in all creatures. From an evolutionary concept, to evolve is to adapt to better survive in an individual’s environment. It could be suggested that humans have developed speech as a necessity to better survive in the societies we live in, as it is a more relevant method for humans, rather than it being a distinction between humans and non-humans. This complements themes found in social constructionist’s view that language was derived for the purpose of better interaction between individuals, resulting in a more hospitable, co-operative environment to live in.
Animals have found there own effective methods of communicating suited to their lifestyle. For example Cooper and Kaye (2007) illustrate studies by Karl Von-Frisch (1950) on honey bees and the way they dance to let other bees know where more food is; a round dance represents food within a close region, while a waggle dance represents a further distance to journey. Another example is Vervet monkeys, who raise alarms to warn the others of an oncoming predator. They perform different acts depending on the kind of predator; to look up towards the sky to represent an eagle, to look down when a snake was sighted and to run to the trees in the case of a leopard Seyfarth et al. (1980) as cited in Cooper and Kaye (2007).
Humans on the other hand have evolved to develop a verbal means of communication, namely language. Living in modern day societies, humans require a form of...
Although speech is considered unique to humans, the art of communicating is apparent in all creatures. From an evolutionary concept, to evolve is to adapt to better survive in an individual’s environment. It could be suggested that humans have developed speech as a necessity to better survive in the societies we live in, as it is a more relevant method for humans, rather than it being a distinction between humans and non-humans. This complements themes found in social constructionist’s view that language was derived for the purpose of better interaction between individuals, resulting in a more hospitable, co-operative environment to live in.
Animals have found there own effective methods of communicating suited to their lifestyle. For example Cooper and Kaye (2007) illustrate studies by Karl Von-Frisch (1950) on honey bees and the way they dance to let other bees know where more food is; a round dance represents food within a close region, while a waggle dance represents a further distance to journey. Another example is Vervet monkeys, who raise alarms to warn the others of an oncoming predator. They perform different acts depending on the kind of predator; to look up towards the sky to represent an eagle, to look down when a snake was sighted and to run to the trees in the case of a leopard Seyfarth et al. (1980) as cited in Cooper and Kaye (2007).
Humans on the other hand have evolved to develop a verbal means of communication, namely language. Living in modern day societies, humans require a form of...