“Perhaps, though, we should examine more thoroughly what are the natural principles of human fellowship and community. First is something that is seen in the fellowship of the entire human race. For its bonding consists of reason and speech, which reconcile men to one another, through teaching, learning, communicating, debating and making judgements, and unite them in a kind of natural fellowship. It is this that most distances us from the nature of other animals.” Cicero, On Duties I. 50. eds. and trans. M.T. Griffin and E.M. Atkins (Cambridge 1991), p. 21.
Reason and speech unite all humanity in a natural felllowship. By means of these, human beings learn, communicate, and resolve differences. Without reason and speech human beings are close to mere animals.
