| | Doug,
There are a few parts where Rand gets into the differences between rational animals and animals. ... I'll list some and maybe you can complete the list. Here are a few parts where Rand gets into such "differences":
"The attribute of volition does not contradict the fact of identity, just as the existence of living organisms does not contradict the existence of inanimate matter. Living organisms possess the power of self-initiated motion, which inanimate matter does not possess; man’s consciousness possesses the power of self-initiated motion in the realm of cognition (thinking), which the consciousnesses of other living species do not possess."--Philosophy: Who Needs It, p 26 Recap:
A rational faculty is something volitional or self-initiated. Man possesses a natural ability to initiate, sustain or suspend thought -- animals don't.
Reason integrates man’s perceptions by means of forming abstractions or conceptions, thus raising man’s knowledge from the perceptual level, which he shares with animals, to the conceptual level, which he alone can reach. The method which reason employs in this process is logic—and logic is the art of non-contradictory identification."--Philosophy: Who Needs It, p 62 Recap:
A rational faculty is something that forms abstractions or conceptions by the method of logic (non-contradictory identification). Man possesses a natural ability to form concepts via logic -- animals don't.
Bottom Line:
A rational faculty is expressed via a volitional and logical formation of concepts.
There are three unique ingredients to rationality (volitional, logical, concept-forming) and a fourth ingredient -- i.e., perception -- which serves as the background on which rationality has to do its work. As to whether any animals whatsoever possess a rational faculty, I refer you to recent investigation which casts doubt that Great Apes -- the animals genetically closest to man -- form concepts at all, let alone in a logical manner. Until and unless you can provide counter-evidence on animal rationality, I will consider that part of this discussion over.
As to whether or not there are any folks who don't possess any capacity for rationality -- either through having no volition, no logic, or no concepts -- I will await your evidence on that matter. Until and unless you can provide evidence that such folks exist, I will consider that part of this discussion rendered moot via the mere appeal to the arbitrary (as merely bald and bold conjecture -- without any supporting evidence).
Ed
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