This article, Six ‘uniquely’ human traits now found in animals, will be worrisome to those who think to secure the moral worth of the human being by appealing to some claim to uniqueness of the human race amongst biological species. Some of us aren’t bothered much at all by such articles because we see human beings as raised above the animal kingdom only by adoption by Jesus Christ as His brothers and sisters. Otherwise, we are perhaps “first among equals,” but not much more.
I’ll not address the six ‘similarities’ mentioned in the article, because I don’t find them to be interesting in the sense of surprising, but I will say that there’s been substantial evidence for a while that human natural morality is not so much different from that of other social mammals. That famous anthropologist from Mars wouldn’t be able to so easily distinguish between the moral nature of a human being and that of a wolf, though wolves are more reluctant than human beings to kill other members of their own species.
Yet, as the old saying goes:
Only man brews beer.
Almost as important:
Only man explores differential geometries or writes metaphysical poetry.
Human beings share the ability to think abstractly with at least chimpanzees. Unlike chimpanzees, human beings are aggressive in using their abstract thinking talents and human talents for abstract thought are also much greater. Human beings are capable of being companions of God just because of the capabilities of the human mind which are founded on some hyper-developed regions of our primate brain. Firstly, we can become aware of at least the possibility of a personal God. It’s hard to have a personal relationship if you’re not aware of at least the possible existence of the other entity. Secondly, we can become aware that we inhabit some ‘place’ that might be called a cosmos or a universe. Once we see the possibility of a cosmos or universe, we can realize that such an entity would have to be rational and well-ordered by some standard that we may or may not wish to discover.
You might think I’ve contradicted myself, first claiming we human beings are unique in the animal kingdom only because the Son of God became one of us and then saying we’re unique in that our high-level abstract thinking abilities allow us some god-like ability to understand in imitation of God’s ability to create.
First of all, in my defense: the ‘uniqueness’ of the human brain does lie in hyper-development of a apish brain. I’m being a little loose in this claim as the human brain also differs from the chimpanzee brain in some very specialized regions for language and other skills. The point is that there’s a lot about the human brain that’s a little surprising compared to the brains of other animals but there’s nothing that lifts that brain out of the category of ‘terrestrial animal brain’.
If the Son of God were to become a creature in an act of submission and obedience to the Father, the Son would’ve had to become a creature capable of that higher level understanding so that He could understand, you might even say remember, that most important of all creaturely knowledge: our humble relationship to the Father and our duty to render Him all that we have and all that we are. The human nature of Jesus Christ was in deep communion with the Father and with all that He had created with Father and Holy Spirit. This means that such a state is — in principle — possible for an ordinary human being just because Jesus Christ was a man just like us although also the Son of God. He was true man and true God. Through our relationship as His brethren, we already share in His humanity and we can also share in His divinity.