Human Sentient Intelligence in the Philosophy of Xavier Zubiri

From the perspective of evolution, comparative studies between human beings and apes (gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans) reveal a number of similarities.1 Biologically, human beings inherited some of their fundamental characteristics, such as color vision, frontal eyes, development of the neo-cortex, and high manual dexterity, from members of the ape family. Behaviorally, human beings share with them the capacity to utilize tools for a variety of tasks, the use of vision and hearing to interact with the environment, a well structured social life, sexual and reproductive behavior, and complex forms of intra-specific intercommunication. Genetically, 98 percent of the chimpanzee’s genome is identical to the human genome. Due to these similarities, human beings have often been called the “naked ape,” following the title of the successful book by the English biologist Desmond Morris.