We define a thing by its powers.
Humans have the power of self reflection and therefore can be held accountable for moral choices.
Inanimate Objects
(Rocks and Minerals): power of
existence.
Plants:
power of existence AND the power of
vegetation (taking in energy, letting
out waste, growth, reproduction).
Ameba: power of existence AND vegetation AND self-motivation (can move themselves about in a directed way).
Animals: power of existence AND vegetation AND self-motivation, AND sensate power (have the five senses, and so are aware of their surroundings)
Humans:
power of existence AND vegetation AND self-motivation AND
sensate, AND rational
(they are
AWARE that they are aware, and so they have self-consciousness, and can
think, reason, and morally deduce, leading to the capacity to love.)
(Thanks to Camille De Blasi Pauley)
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Animals can process information only with right sided abilities. Humans have both right and left sided abilities. Together meaning is enhanced.
Experience of phenomenal environment around us
Nonverbal meaning
Holistic -- all at once
Intuition
Judgments by feelings
Heart knowledge:
Poetry, art, drama, spiritual meaning
Left
Experience of symbolic world inside us.
Language
Sequential Thought -- bit by bit
Judgments by Reasoning
Logical analysis
Head knowledge:
Scientific method
Culture moves meaning from the right side to the left.