Homo sapiens-the emotional animal

Abstract

Traditionally, in attempts to define what comprises being human, philosophers have referred to features such as rationality, language, culture, free will, creativity, or political structures to distinguish humans from other living beings. In the long run, these attempts to separate humans sharply from the animal kingdom have all failed. Emotions have been largely ignored on the grounds that humans share them with many other animals. As a result of this neglect, it has been overlooked how essential emotions are for what it means to be human. © 2009 Springer-Verlag New York.