Ideas from 'The Tragic Sense of Life' by Miguel de Unamuno [1912], by Theme Structure

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24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Maybe humans are distinguished from other animals by feelings, rather than reason
                        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.
                        From: Miguel de Unamuno (The Tragic Sense of Life [1912], p.3), quoted by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 2 'Problem'
                        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.