Rationality is the defining (epistemologically essential) characteristic because it is determines most of the other known attributes that we think of as uniquely human. Consider, for example, how each of the following features of homo sapiens depends on this conceptual faculty ().

• language
• creation and use of tools, ranging from primitive stone implements to the Internet
• science
• literature, art, music, and spiritual concerns
• agriculture, planned industry, and commerce
• consciousness of self and of self-mortality
• philosophy
• anatomical adaptations (e. g., the opposing thumb) appropriate to survival by using mind to manipulate environment     
  

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