Raymond Newkirk, Psy.D., Ph.D.

All of my life, I have been told that the power of reason makes us human. We are the "rational animal". I guess, then, some people are more human than others. Does this make the artist less human than the scientist? Or, are we speaking about the human potential for rational thought so that the scientist is actually a human being and the artist is potentially a human being? Moreover, the claim that human beings are "rational animals" is rather simplistic because human beings are more than animals, as Aristotle suggested.
Although we do have the powers that animals share such as reproduction, self-mobility, growth, and so forth, we enjoy powers beyond those of brute animals like spiritual development, cultivation of virtue, and creative powers of the imagination. An animal has body, like a rock has material volume occupying space, but an animal is not a rock. A rock requires transitive motion through an external agent to move it, while an animal enjoys imminent motion from within to move itself.
So an animal enjoys the powers of a rock in having existence and a body, but exceeds rocks with its own many powers not enjoyed by rocks. In like manner, human beings possess powers not enjoyed by animals. Human beings are, in fact, beings governed by conscience and the Cardinal Virtues. While we do not call animals "self-moving rocks", we really ought not to call human beings "rational animals". We are considerably more than that.