Exceptionalism is the idea that humans have distinct properties different from other animals. It is opposed to some forms of
naturalism.
There are of course many critical differences between humans and other animals. The most notable of these, in
information philosophy terms, is the extraordinary human ability for information creation, storage, and retrieval, and its communication using speech, text, and images.
This is of course basically the consequence of human intelligence.
Communication of all forms has been enhanced by the development of technologies for the reproduction and transmission of text, images, and sounds, at first mechanically and then electronically.
Extreme forms of exceptionalism are those that claim humans have God-given properties that distinguish them from animals, such as the supposed gifts of reason and freedom.
Traditional claims are that animal behaviors are causal and deterministic, whereas humans have a metaphysical freedom, one that is inexplicable in biological terms.
On the other hand, recent
naturalist attempts to reduce humans to mechanical or biological systems have exaggerated the similarities with animals and may ignore essential differences.
In particular, naturalists with an inclination toward atheism have accepted the traditional claim that
freedom is a God-given gift, and then denied it to humans.
Our
I-Phi solution to
the problem of free will suggests that many of the higher animals share the ability to break the causal chain of metaphysical determinism and even
deliberate freely. Animals clearly have freedom of action.
The
Cogito mind model is one that can have evolved from natural processes in all forms of life. It shares processes with the driving engine behind biological speciation itself. And it resembles common processes that use randomness to create new information, such as the immune system.
Exceptionalist solutions that suppose the human mind is metaphysically different from animal minds, for example that it is a mechanical computer, are not adaptations of biological processes and phenomena well-known in lower forms of life.
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