Differences Between Humans and Apes

It is well-known that both rude and civilized peoples are capable of showing unspeakable, and as it is erroneously termed, inhuman cruelty towards each other. These acts of cruelty, murder and rapine are often the result of the inexorable logic of national characteristics, and are unhappily truly human, since nothing like them can be traced in the animal world. It would, for instance, be a grave mistake to compare a tiger with the bloodthirsty exectioner of the Reign of Terror, since the former only satisfies his natural appetite in preying on other mammals. The atrocities of the trials for witchcraft, the indiscriminate slaughter committed by the negroes on the coast of Guinea, the sacrifice of human victims made by the Khonds, the dismemberment of living men by the Battas, find no parallel in the habits of animals in their savage state. And such a comparision is, above all, impossible in the case of anthropoids, which display no hostility towards men or other animals unless they are first attacked. In this respect the anthropid ape stands on a higher plane than many men.

Notes:

It's not possible to compare the violence in the general animal world to that of humans.

Folksonomies: instinct animals humans

Taxonomies:
/pets/reptiles (0.414518)
/family and parenting/children (0.347620)
/society/unrest and war (0.293432)

Keywords:
animal world (0.988153 (negative:-0.497928)), general animal world (0.908140 (negative:-0.441841)), inhuman cruelty (0.870339 (negative:-0.671084)), civilized peoples (0.787762 (positive:0.262315)), inexorable logic (0.762718 (negative:-0.679028)), indiscriminate slaughter (0.745473 (negative:-0.605290)), bloodthirsty exectioner (0.732814 (negative:-0.601715)), grave mistake (0.722119 (negative:-0.601715)), natural appetite (0.710307 (neutral:0.000000)), national characteristics (0.686088 (negative:-0.679028)), savage state (0.672098 (negative:-0.537571)), anthropid ape (0.662831 (positive:0.786067)), higher plane (0.655684 (positive:0.786067)), human victims (0.652230 (negative:-0.393687)), humans. (0.632394 (negative:-0.441841)), men (0.460441 (positive:0.481463)), animals (0.417036 (negative:-0.472316)), satisfies (0.414405 (neutral:0.000000)), negroes (0.414354 (negative:-0.605290)), hostility (0.411240 (negative:-0.407061)), dismemberment (0.407216 (negative:-0.202147)), atrocities (0.403238 (negative:-0.656766)), instance (0.397416 (negative:-0.325917)), sacrifice (0.385930 (negative:-0.393687)), Terror (0.383511 (negative:-0.601715)), Reign (0.380022 (negative:-0.601715)), result (0.377161 (negative:-0.679028)), mammals (0.374814 (neutral:0.000000)), witchcraft (0.373672 (negative:-0.656766)), murder (0.372528 (negative:-0.679028))

Entities:
murder:Crime (0.888101 (negative:-0.679028)), Guinea:Country (0.830890 (negative:-0.605290))

Anthropoid apes

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Hartmann , Robert (1886), Anthropoid apes, Retrieved on 2012-06-01

Source Material [books.google.com]