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Full Idea
Man is said to be a reasoning animal. I do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. Perhaps that which differentiates him from other animals is feeling rather than reason.
Gist of Idea
Maybe humans are distinguished from other animals by feelings, rather than reason
Source
Miguel de Unamuno (The Tragic Sense of Life [1912], p.3), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 2 'Problem'
Book Ref
Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.22
A Reaction
Perfectly plausible, given that we presume that our feelings are startlingly different from other animals - even if we feel far more community with other mammals than we did in Unamuno's day.