blame it on ari...

…Aristotle, that is, who noted an "essential difference" between humans and animals, writes Brett Buchanan in "Do Animals Exist? On the Essence and Existence of Humans and Animals" in Proteus Spring 2007 issue:

What it comes down to is that animals are quite literally irrational, bereft of reason–more specifically, lacking a mind (nous). For what humans have, and animals lack, is a cognitive faculty, which Aristotle describes in a manner that approximates our modern notion of "self-consciousness." This becomes further evident when he states that "the mind is then capable of thinking itself"…which offers a self-reflective capacity of which animals are deprived.