Abstract

It has long been assumed in the Western philosophical and theological traditions that humankind is in some way unique. Philosophically, this uniqueness has been asserted in terms of one of four qualities: rationality, language, consciousness, and self-consciousness. Theologically, it has also been expressed in terms of the concept of the image of God. This dissertation argues, contrarily, that humans are not unique in this sense and in fact share a wide range of cognitive abilities with many other animals. To this end, evidence from cognitive ethology is used to refute the traditional claims of human uniqueness. In place of a philosophy of uniqueness, a philosophy and theology of emergence is put forth, as developed from the work of Arthur Peacocke, Roger Sperry, and others. Such a framework allows us to account for both the continuities and the discontinuities in the relationships between God, world, animal, and human. It is suggested that we may see not only humans, but also all of nature as being, in some sense, in the image of God